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I 



THE LIFE OF 
RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

IN TWO VOLUMES 
VOLUME II 



\ 



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^C^i^^^^fe^C^ /3^ J^C^y^-^ 



THE LIFE OF 

RUTHERFOKD BIRCHARD 

HAYES 

NINETEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

BY 

CHARLES RICHARD WILLIAMS 

WITH PORTRAITS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOLUIVIE II 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
1914 



i^p^y:. 



COPYRIGHT, I9I4, BY CHARLES RICHARD WILLIAMS 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published October iqt4 



.n^kb 



mi 



OCT 26 1914 



'GI.A38S061 



CONTENTS 

XXVII. Inauguration and Cabinet 1 

XXVin. The Southern Problem 33 

XXIX. Efforts for Civil Service Reform . . .69 
XXX. Resumption of Specie Payments . . . .112 

XXXI. The Cipher Dispatches 142 

XXXII. The Contest with Congress .... 170 

XXXIII. Foreign Relations — Indian Policy, etc. . . 208 

XXXIV. Among the People; New England and the South 

— Reconciliation 241 

XXXV. Among the People; the Northwest — An Honest 

Dollar 255 

XXXVI. Among the People; the Central West — Na- 
tionalism 269 

XXX\T;I. Among the People; the Pacific Coast — Educa- 
tion _ . . . . 286 

XXXVIII. Life in the White House 299 

XXXIX. The Return to Spiegel Grove .... 329 

XL. Philanthropic Activities 338 

XLI. Interest in Political Questions .... 361 

XLII. The Final Scenes 386 

XLIII. Personal Characteristics 411 

^ Appendix 439 

Index 451 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

President Euthekford B. Hates, 1880 . . Frontispiece 

The Inauguration of President Hayes, March 5, 1877 . 6 

President Hayes and his Cabinet. At the President's 
Eight, William M. Evarts, George W. McCrary, and 
David M. Key; at his Left, John Sherman, Eichard 
W. Thompson, Charles Devens, and Carl Schurz . 28 

The Louisiana Commission 54 

Charles B. Lawrence, of Illinois ; Joseph E. Hawley, 
of Connecticut ; John M. Harlan, of Kentucky ; John 
C. Brown, op Tennessee ; and Wayne MacVeagh, of 
Pennsylvania. 

President Hayes's Diplomatic Appointments . . .88 
John Welsh, of Pennsylvania (1805-1886), Minister to 
Great Britain, 1878. 

James Eussell Lowell, of Massachusetts (1819-1891), 
Minister to Spain 1877, to Great Britain 1879. 

General Edward F. Noyes, of Ohio (1832-1890), Minis- 
ter TO France, 1877. 

Andrew D.White, op New York (1832- ), Minister to 
Germany, 1879. 

E. W. Stoughton, of New York (1818-1882), Minister 
TO EussiA, 1877. 

Bayard Taylor, of Pennsylvania (1825-1878), Minister 
TO Germany, 1878. 

John A. Kasson, of Iowa (1822- ), Minister to Austria, 
1877. 



viii ILLUSTRATIONS 

General James M. Comly,of Ohio (1832-1887), Minister 
TO Sandwich Islands, 1877. 

Tkesident Hayes's Supreme Court Appointments . . 108 
John M. Harlan, of Kentucky (1833-1911), appointed 
Associate Justice, 1877. 

William B. Woods, of Alabama (1824-1887), appointed 
Associate Justice, 1880. 

Stanley Matthews, of Ohio (1824-1889), appointed 
Associate Justice, 1881. 

President Hayes in 1877 122 

From Photograjih by Landy 

Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes in 1877 132 

From Photograph by Sarony. 

President Rutherford B. Hayes 306 

From Portrait paiuted for the White House by Daniel Hunt- 
ington. 

Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes 326 

From portrait by Daniel Huntington. Presented to the White 
House by the Women's Christian Temperance Union; accepted 
by President Garfield, 1881. 

The House at Spiegel Grove in 1889. The House re- 
mains unchanged in External Appearance . . 330 

The Buckland Gateway, the Main Entrance to Spiegel 
Grove 336 

The Harrison Trail and Grandfather's Oak, Spiegel 
Grove. Harrison Trail Gateway in the Distance . 340 

President and Mrs. Hayes and William Henry Smith. 

On the Piazza at Spiegel Grove, 1889 . . . 350 
Spiegel Grove in Winter 378 

Rutherford B. Hayes, 1892, at the Age of Seventy; 
the Last Photograph 394 



ILLUSTRATIONS ix 

Military Group • . • 422 

General Ulysses S. Grant, 2d General, U.S. Army, 18th 
President. 1822-1885. 

General William T. Sherman, 3d General U.S. Army, 
1820-1891. 

General Philip H. Sheridan, 4th General U.S. Army, 
1831-1888. 

Major General George Crook, U.S.A. 1828-1890. 

Major General Winfield S. Hancock, U.S.A., 1824-1886. 

Hayes Memorial Building, erected in Spiegel Grove, 
1912-14, BY THE State of Ohio for the Preservation 
of President Hayes's Books, Papers, and Collections 446 



THE LIFE OF 
RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 



" He serves his Party best who 
serves his Country best." 



THE LIFE OF 

EUTHERFORD BIRCHARD 

HAYES 

CHAPTER XXVII 

INAUGURATION AND CABINET 

DURING all the weeks of passionate partisan assertion and 
appeal, of constantly shifting surmises and reports, it was 
quite in the nature of things that threats of personal violence 
and hints of assassination should now and then burst into 
expression from desperate or ill-balanced persons. Mr. Hayes 
received many anonymous letters warning him that he should 
not live to be inaugurated if he persisted in standing upon his 
rights and were declared elected.^ At least one of these letters 
reached the public prints. It was dated at St. Louis and pur- 
ported to be written by a Southern woman, though the pen- 
manship appeared masculine. In phrases saturate with the very 
gall of bitterness, it bade Mr. Hayes remember the fate of 
Lincoln, and flee from the wrath to come. Of course neither to 
this letter nor to any other of similar quality did its recipient 
pay the least attention. He had faced death too often in the 
line of duty, on battlefield and bivouac, to be disturbed by the 
cowardly ravings of unknown miscreants who proposed to strike 
in the dark. No one can protect himself against the assassin's 
blow if the assassin is ready himself to risk ignominious death. 
That all the threats might not be idle seemed to be proved by 
the fact that one evening, while Mr. Hayes was seated with his 

* President Grant received similar threatening letters. Attorney-General Taft, 
in a letter to Mr. Hayes of December 6, 1876, wrote: "The President is receiving 
every day threatening letters, or letters declaring that there is a plot to resist 
your inauguration, and to kill him. He sends all these letters over to me. There is 
a great deal said of extensive preparations to seat Tilden by force. Several men 
have called on me to assure me that there is danger." 



2 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

family at supper, a bullet pierced the plate glass of the parlor 
window, the shade of which was only partly lowered. It trav- 
ersed the front room and the connecting back parlor, passed 
through the open door of the small library, and buried itself in 
the library wall. There was a moment of disquiet, and then at 
once strict injunctions of secrecy were laid upon the household. 
Thus, no mention of the incident found its way into the news- 
pai)ers of the day. Of course it could not be positively known 
that the shot was fired with murderous intent, but the attendant 
circumstances made that hypothesis most probable; and whether 
it was or not, it was wise not to magnify it by sensational pub- 
licity. It was Mr. Hayes's custom at this period to walk late 
every evening to the home of his niece, Mrs. Mitchell, several 
blocks from his otvti house, where he made a short visit and then 
walked homeward again. His intimate friends were apprehen- 
sive for his safety and advised him to give up this custom, but 
he would not listen to their fears. His son, Webb, was his com- 
panion on these walks, and in deference to the solicitude of 
friends always went armed with a revolver. But no suspicious 
persons were ever encountered and no untoward incident 
occurred. 

In the last few days of the count, when the Democrats in 
Congress were seeking to delay and filibuster, and the air was 
full of revolutionary designs, some of the partisan papers of 
the baser sort fairly screamed themselves hoarse with incendiary 
utterances; and many of Mr. Hayes's friends feared that his 
journey to Washington might be attended with peril. Mr. 
Stanley Matthews, one of his counsel before the Electoral Com- 
mission, writing him from Washington, February 19, said: — 

An arrangement will be made, as I am informed by the Secretary of 
War, for a private car via Harrisburg and Baltimore, and you had better 
come on twenty -four hours in advance of any knowledge of the fact. I 
think you ought to take precautions for safety, as there is undoubtedly 
a very dangerous class here and perhaps elsewhere ready for mischief. 
The Capital of yesterday had an article directly instigating assassina- 
tion.' 

' The article contained this sentence: "If a man thus returned to power can 
ride in safety from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol to be inaugurated, we 
are fitted for the slavery that will follow the inauguration." 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 3 

Three days later a letter from a friend in Baltimore advised 
Mr. Hayes "by all means to avoid coming through Baltimore"; 
or, if he must, to pass through in the daytime without making 
any stop. "I feel impressed," the writer said, "with the convic- 
tion that there are individual men so bitter, so wicked, and so 
reckless that if they had the opportunity, they would assassinate 
you." Colonel L. C. Weir, of Cincinnati, of Governor Hayes's 
staff, who had charge of the arrangements for the journey to 
Washington, also received precautionary warnings ^ from sev- 
eral public men, but he believed their fears had little substantial 
basis. He " took just enough stock in it [the possibility of danger] 
to watch for it and no more," as he said in writing Mr. Hayes of 
the plan for the trip.^ 

Senator Sherman and others advised Mr. Hayes that he ought 
to be in Washington at least ten days or a week before the date 
of the inauguration that he might have abundant opportunity 
for conferences with party leaders. But Mr. Hayes was reluctant 
to appear at the Capital before his election had actually been 
declared; and as the count was prolonged by the dilatory tactics 
of the Democrats in the House, he remained at Columbus until 
Thursday, March 1, when the two private cars for himself and 
his friends were attached to the regular afternoon passenger 
train on the Pennsylvania Railway. The evening before, the 
people of Columbus had given him and Mrs. Hayes a brilliant 
reception at the State House, ^ and they were escorted to the 

^ Major Bickham, of the Dayton Journal, ■wrote him from Washington Febru- 
ary 16: "In view of the attempt to murder Packard, I told Judge Taft that the 
President ought to be urged to provide that Hayes should reach Washington 
safely. He replied: 'That has been considered. The President will see to it.' But, 
my dear fellow, you must be constantly watchful. Hayes is so fearless that he will 
be constantly in danger. Watch carefully. Keep brave, careful men ahead when 
you start, and especially at stopping-places. Hayes ought not to come through 
Virginia and Maryland, but by a northern line. Reason this out for yourself. 
This city is full of bold, bad, desperate men. I have said enough to assure you, if 
you need a hint. But still I say be careful." 

^ That these many warnings made some impression on Mr. Hayes's mind 
seems to be indicated by the fact that in writing a letter to President Grant, on 
February 23, about his coming to Washington, he added this postscript: "It is 
perhaps best that the date of my expected arrival in Washington should not be 
made public." 

' The reception was followed by a joint meeting of the two houses of the 
Legislature in the chamber of the House of Representatives, presided over by 
the President of the Senate, to do honor to the retiring Governor. Laudatory 



4 RUTHERFORD BIRCIIARD HA\"ES 

train by the College Cadets and a vast throng of citizens, to 
whom ]Mr. Hayes made a short farewell speech, from the rear 
platform of his car. He said: — 

My Fellow Citizens, — I appear to say a few words in bidding good- 
bye to you. I understand very well the uncertainty of public affairs at 
Washington; I understand very well that possibly next week I may be 
with you again to resume my place in the Governor's office and as your 
fellow citizen. But I also understand that it is my duty to be at Wash- 
ington, prepared to assume another position higher and more responsi- 
ble and with more diflicult duties. I have thought, as I looked upon this 
great audience and as to-day I gazed on the people who thronged our 
route to this depot, of a similar occurrence sixteen years ago. A little less 
than sixteen years ago I marched down High Street with one thousand 
men to pass to the East and to the South to do what we could to restore 
the Union of the States, and to reestablish the authority of the Constitu- 
tion. In that work we were eminently successful, so far as it was possible 
to be successful by force of arms. 

I am not here to say a word in disparagement of what was accom- 
plished by the brave men who went with me from different parts of the 
country. Of my comrades, one third and over never returned to their 
homes. They perished in the discharge of their duty, that the Republic 
might live. But there was something that force could not do. We would 
have our Union to be a union of hearts, and we would have our Consti- 
tution obeyed, not merely because of force that compels obedience, but 
obeyed because the people love the principles of the Constitution. 

And to-day I am called to the work to which Abraham Lincoln was 
called sixteen years ago. It is under brighter skies and more favorable 
auspices. I do hope, I do fervently believe, that by the aid of Divine 
Providence we may do something in this day of peace, by works of peace, 
toward reestablishing in the hearts of our countrymen a real, a hearty 
attachment to the Constitution as it is and to the Union as it is. 

In Mr. Hayes's car, besides his immediate family, were 
William Henry Smith, and a few other intimate friends from 
Columbus and Cincinnati. At the Ohio towns, where the train 
paused, and at Pittsburg, enthusiastic crowds were gathered to 
wish the new President godspeed. Early the next morning, near 
Harrisburg, the party were awakened to hear the news that the 

addresses were made to which Mr. Hayes feelingly responded, closing with these 
words: " As for myself and family, we go, perhaps to return again in a few daj's to 
occupy our accustomed place in this community; possibly we go to other scenes 
and (hitics. not to meet you again. In that event, I wish to say to you, as Mr. 
Lincoln said on parting with his friends at Springfield sixteen years ago, that 'I 
trust you will pray that I may have that Divine assistance and guidance, with- 
out which I cannot succeed, and with which I cannot fail.' " 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 5 

two houses had counted the last State and the formal declara- 
tion that Mr. Hayes was elected President had been made. 
Throughout the journey no unpleasant incident or hostile dem- 
onstration occurred. 

President Grant had written Mr. Hayes a cordial invitation 
to come direct to the White House and be his guest until after 
the inauguration. But it had seemed to him and to his friends 
that his presence there might be a source of embarrassment to 
all concerned, and so he accepted Senator Sherman's hospitality. 
Mr. Hayes was met at the station by Senator Sherman and 
General Sherman and driven at once to the former's residence. 
Immediately after breakfast he called with Senator Sherman at 
the White House to pay his respects to the President. After a 
pleasant half-hour with General Grant, who presented to him 
the members of the Cabinet, he drove to the Capitol. There in 
the Vice-President's room he was waited upon by many Senators 
and Representatives, Democrats as well as Republicans, who 
were eager to meet the new President to be. All the rest of that 
day he was constantly in consultation with party leaders, Satur- 
day evening President Grant gave a state dinner in his honor. 
Mr. Wheeler, the Chief Justice, and the members of the Cabinet^ 
and their wives, were of the party. Just before going into the 
dining-room. President Grant, Mr. Hayes, Chief Justice Waite, 
and U, S, Grant, Jr., withdrew to the Red Room, where, with- 
out the knowledge of the other guests, the oath of office was 
administered to Mr. Hayes by the Chief Justice. This was done 
to prevent an interregnum. ^ Monday noon at the Capitol, with 
all due formality, the oath was repeated, the inaugural address 
was delivered before a vast concourse of people, and Mr. Hayes 
returned to the White House, Chief Magistrate of the Republic.^ 

* Except Secretary Morrill who was ill. 

^ " It was arranged that I should, in the evening before the state dinner at the 
White House, be sworn by the Chief Justice, to prevent an interregnum between 
Sunday noon (March 4) and the inauguration Monday. This was on the ad- 
vice of Secretary Fish and the President. I did not altogether approve but 
acquiesced." (Diary.) 

* "The day was bright and beautiful, and nothing marred the splendor of the 
procession or the ceremony." (New York Herald.) 

"The space in front of the Capitol was packed with spectators. At least thirty 
thousand people were gathered there, waiting for the approach of the procession. 
Its coming was heralded by hearty shouts of welcome and applause. , , . After 



6 RUTHERFORD BIRCILVRD HAYES 

For the moment the contentions and rivalries which had en- 
dangered the peace and prosperity of the nation were lulled and 
the beginning of the new Administration promised well. 
The inaugural address was as follows: — 

Fellow Citizens, — We have assembled to repeat the public ceremo- 
nial, begun by Washington, observed by all my predecessors, and now a 
time-honored custom, wliich marks the commencement of a new term 
of the Presidential office. Called to the duties of this great trust, I pro- 
ceed, in compliance with usage, to announce some of the leading prin- 
ciples on the subjects that now chiefly engage the public attention, by 
which it is my desire to be guided in the discharge of those duties. I shall 
not undertake to lay down irrevocably principles or measures of admin- 
istration, but rather to speak of the motives which should animate us, 
and to suggest certain important ends to be attained in accordance with 
our institutions and essential to the welfare of our country. 

At theoutsetof the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential 
election, it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my 
sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then 
appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the 
example, and in part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, 
I wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, 
to repeat what was said before the election, trusting that my country- 
men will candidly weigh and understand it, and that they will feel as- 
sured that the sentiments declared in accepting the nomination for the 

the foreign ministers, the Supreme Court judges, the members of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, and other distinguished persons had taken seats, the 
President-elect and General Grant appeared, arm in arm, preceded by the clerk of 
the Supreme Coiu-t, bearing the Bible upon which the oath of office was to be 
taken. 

"As the new President of the United States walked down to the front of the 
platform and took his place, he was again cheered with a heartiness that displayed 
the popular satisfaction his appearance awakened. 'When silence was restored, he 
at once commenced the delivery of his inaugural address. It was listened to with 
marked attention, and was at many points loudly applauded. The President 
spoke in a clear and deliberate tone, and his words were heard even by those who 
stood on the outer edge of the vast throng of people assembled to witness the 
ceremony. 

" When the address was concluded, the oath of office was administered to the 
new President by Chief Justice Waite. The President then reentered his carriage. 
The ringing of bells, the firing of cannon, and the cheers of the great multitude 
greeted him as he passed from the Capitol to the WTiite House. 

"In the evening the streets of Washington were so thronged with people that it 
was difficult to move about except with the general mass. All the public build- 
ings and many private houses were brilliantly illuminated. Bands were playing, 
rockets flying, and cannon firing. Pennsylvania Avenue from end to end was 
one sea of light. ... .'\n immense torchlight procession ended the ceremonies." 
(Harper's Weekly. March 24, 1877.) 




THE INAUGLRATION OF PRESIDENT HAYES, MARCH 5, 187 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 7 

Presidency will be the standard of my conduct in the path before me, 
charged, as I now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them 
out in the practical administration of the Government so far as depends, 
under the Constitution and laws, on the Chief Executive of the nation. 

The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and 
by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens 
in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one 
subject, in our public affairs, which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens 
regard as of supreme importance. 

Many of the calamitous effects of the tremendous revolution which 
has passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable 
benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and gener- 
ous acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution, have not 
yet been realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at the 
threshold of this subject. The people of those States are still impov- 
erished, and the inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful self- 
government is not fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may 
exist as to the cause of this condition of things, the fact is clear, that, in 
the progress of events, the time has come when such government is the 
imperative necessity required by all the varied interests, public and 
private, of those States. But it must not be forgotten that only a local 
government which recognizes and maintains inviolate the rights of all 
is a true self-government. 

With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to 
each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and 
perplexities which exist in those States, it must be a government which 
guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. It must be a 
government which submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and 
the laws — the laws of the nation and the laws of the States themselves 
— accepting and obeying faithfully the whole Constitution as it is. 

Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the superstructure 
of beneficent local governments can be built up, and not otherwise. In 
furtherance of such obedience to the letter and the spirit of the Consti- 
tution, and in behalf of all that its attainment implies, all so-called party 
interests lose their apparent importance, and party lines may well be 
permitted to fade into insignificance. The question we have to consider 
for the immediate welfare of those States of the Union is the question of 
government or no government, of social order and all the peaceful indus- 
tries and the happiness that belong to it, or a return to barbarism. It is 
a question in which every citizen of the nation is deeply interested, and 
with respect to which we ought not to be, in a partisan sense, either 
Republicans or Democrats, but fellow citizens and fellow men, to whom 
the interests of a common country and a common humanity are dear. 

The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion 
of our country, and the advance of four millions of people from a condi- 
tion of servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their 
former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the 



8 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

gravest moment, to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their for- 
mer masters, and by the general Government, the author of the act of 
emancipation. That it was a wise, just, and Providential act, fraught 
with good for all concerned, is now generally conceded throughout the 
country. That a moral obligation rests upon the National Government 
to employ its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights 
of the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the enjoyment 
of those rights when they are infringed or assailed, is also generally 
admitted. 

The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or 
remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated 
by motives of mutual sj'mpathy and regard. And while in duty bound 
and fully determined to protect the rights of all by every constitutional 
means at the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to 
use every legitimate influence in favor of honest and efficient local self- 
government as the true resource of those States for the promotion of 
the contentment and prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I shall 
make to accomplish this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of all who 
cherish an interest in the welfare of the country, trusting that party ties 
and the prejudice of race will be freely surrendered in behalf of the great 
purpose to be accomplished. In the important work of restoring the 
South, it is not the political situation alone that merits attention. The 
material development of that section of the country has been arrested 
by the social and political revolution through which it has passed, and 
now needs and deserves the considerate care of the National Govern- 
ment, within the just limits prescribed by the Constitution and wise 
public economy. 

But, at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every other 
part of the country, lies the improvement of the intellectual and moral 
condition of the people. Universal suffrage should rest upon universal 
education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made 
for the support of free schools by the State Governments, and, if need 
be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority. 

Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my 
earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interests, the interests 
of the white and of the colored people, both and equally, and to put 
forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe 
out in our political affairs the color line, and the distinction between 
North and South, to tlie end that we may have not merely a united 
North or a united South, but a united country. 

I ask the attention of the public to the paramount necessity of reform 
in our civil service, a reform not merely as to certain abuses and prac- 
tices of so-called official patronage, which have come to have the sanc- 
tion of usage in the several departments of our Government, but a 
change in tlie system of appointment itself, a reform that shall be thor- 
ougli, radical, and complete; a return to the principles and practices of 
the founders of the Government. They neither exi^ected nor desired 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 9 

from public officers any partisan service. They meant that public offi- 
cers should owe their whole service to the Government and to the people. 
They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his 
personal character remained untarnished, and the performance of his 
duties satisfactory. They held that appointments to office were not to 
be made nor expected merely as rewards for partisan services, nor merely 
on the nomination of members of Congress, as being entitled in any 
respect to the control of such appointments. 

The fact that both the great political parties of the country, in de- 
claring their principles prior to the election, gave a prominent place to 
the subject of reform of our civil service, recognizing and strongly urging 
its necessity, in terms almost identical in their specific import with those 
I have here employed, must be accepted as a conclusive argument in 
behalf of these measures. It must be regarded as the expression of the 
united voice and will of the whole country upon this subject, and both 
political parties are virtually pledged to give it their unreserved sup- 
port. 

The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to 
office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the members 
of which cherish with ardor, and regard as of essential importance, the 
principles of their party organization. But he should strive to be always / 
mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves his country "^ 
best. 

In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other important respects 
a change of great importance, I recommend an amendment to the Con- 
stitution prescribing a term of six years for the Presidential office, and 
forbidding a reelection. 

With respect to the financial condition of the country, I shall not 
attempt an extended history of the embarrassment and prostration 
which we have suffered during the past three years. The depression 
in all our varied commercial and manufacturing interests throughout 
the country, which began in September, 1873, still continues. It is very 
gratifying, however, to be able to say that there are indications all 
around us of a coming change to prosperous times. 

Upon the currency question, intimately connected as it is with this 
topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the statement made in my 
letter of acceptance, that, in my judgment, the feeling of uncertainty 
inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fiuctuation 
of values, is one of the greatest obstacles to a return to prosperous times. 
The only safe paper currency is one which rests upon a coin basis, and 
is at all times and promptly convertible into coin. 

I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor of con- 
gressional legislation in behalf of an early resumption of specie pay- 
ments, and I am satisfied not only that this is wise, but that the interests 
as well as the public sentiment of the country imperatively demand it. 

Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own country 
to consider our relations with other lands, we are reminded by the 



10 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD IL\YES 

international complications abroad, threatening the peace of Europe, 
that our traditional rule of non-interference in the affairs of foreign 
nations has proved of great value in past times, and ought to be strictly 
observed. 

The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor. President Grant, 
of submitting to arbitration grave questions in dispute between our- 
selves and foreign powers, points to a new and incomparably the best 
instrumentality for the preservation of peace, and will, as I believe, 
become a l)eneficent example of the course to be pursued in similar 
emergencies by other nations. 

If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during the 
period of my Administration arise between the United States and any 
foreign Government, it will certainly be my disposition and my hope 
to aid in their settlement in the same peaceful and honorable way, thus 
securing to our country the great blessings of peace and mutual good 
oflBces with all the nations of the world. 

Fellow citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest 
marked by the excitement which usually attends the contests between 
great political parties, whose members espouse and advocate with 
earnest faith their respective creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, 
in no respect extraordinary, save in the closeness and the consequent 
uncertainty of the result. 

For the first time in the history of the country, it has been deemed 
best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the objec- 
tions and questions in dispute with reference to the counting of the 
electoral votes should be referred to the decision of a tribunal appointed 
for this purpose. 

That tribunal — established by law for this sole purpose; its members, 
all of them, men of long-established reputation for integrity and intelli- 
gence, and, with the exception of those who are also members of the 
Supreme Jutliciary, chosen equally from both political parties; its delib- 
erations — enlightened by the research and the arguments of able 
counsel — was entitled to the fullest confidence of the American people. 
Its decisions have been patiently waited for, and accepted as legally 
conclusive by the general judgment of the public. For the present, 
opinion will widely vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions 
announced by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every instance 
where matters of dispute are made the subject of arbitration under 
the forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely 
regarded as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the 
contest. 

The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a 
dispute, in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law, 
no less than as to the proper course to be pursued, in solving the ques- 
tion in controversy, is an occasion for general rejoicing. 

Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentiment, that 
conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET U 

adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the 
nation ought surely to follow. 

It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the right 
of suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first example in his- 
tory of a great nation, in the midst of a struggle of opposing parties for 
power, hushing its party tumults, to yield the issue of the contest to 
adjustment according to the forms of law. 

Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies 
of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you. Senators, Rep- 
resentatives, Judges, fellow citizens, here and everywhere, to unite with 
me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of 
material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union — a Union de- 
pending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion 
of a free people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled 
upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth 
and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all 
generations." 

The address, it is seen, was in its main features a reaffirma- 
tion and reenforcement of the views presented by Mr. Hayes in 
his letter of acceptance on the three topics that loomed largest 
in the political thought of the period. It left no room for doubt 
in the minds of politicians or people that those views had not 
been expressed simply for campaign purposes, now to be ignored 
or modified in the interest of "practical politics" or at the behest 
of arrogant party leaders, but were settled convictions, with full 
implication of binding obligation to seek their realization, on 
the part of the new President. Throughout the campaign, and 
through all the period of doubt and acrimony since the polls 
closed on November 7, Mr. Hayes had never wavered in as- 
serting that he had meant all that his letter implied in regard 
to his attitude and purposes toward the South. ^ Now in his 

^ This fact is evidenced by frequent statements in his letters and diary, such 
as, besides those already given, the following paragraphs written shortly before 
leaving Columbus: — 

"The indications still are that I am to go to Washington. I talked yesterday 
with Fred Douglass and Mr. Poindexter, both colored, on the Southern question. 
I told them my views. They approved. Mr. Douglass gave me many usefiJ 
hints about the whole subject. My course is a firm assertion and maintenance of 
the rights of the colored people of the South according to the Thirteenth and 
Fourteenth Amendments, coupled with a readiness to recognize all Southern peo- 
ple, without regard to past political conduct, who will now go with me heartily 
and in good faith in support of these principles." (Diary, February 18.) 

" Yesterday the Commission decided Oregon to be for Hayes and Wheeler. 
This is the last of the disputed and doubtful States. The only apparent chance of 



1£ RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

address he repeated, in amplified form and unequivocal phrases, 
the doctrine he had hitherto proclaimed. The distracted condi- 
tion of the South must be repaired. "Wise, honest, and peaceful 
self-government" must be established; but "it must be a gov- 
ernment which guards the interests of both races carefully and 
equally"; a government "accepting and obeying faithfully the 
whole Constitution as it is." True, the National Government 
was under moral obligation to exercise its constitutional au- 
thority to establish and protect the rights of the emancipated 
negroes, and he acknowledged and would obey the compelling 
force of that obligation; but he was "sincerely anxious to use 
every legitimate means in favor of honest and efficient local self- 
government as the true resource of those States for the promo- 
tion of the contentment and prosperity of their citizens." To 
accomplish this purpose he invoked the cooperation of all who re- 
garded the welfare of the country. Finally he gave the Southern 

defeating us now is the revolutionary conduct of the Democrats in the House. 
The Southern members of that party, who have hitherto been conservative and 
favorable, are disturbed by an article in the Ohio State Journal unfriendly to 
them which is charged to have been inspired by me. The truth is I stand on 
my letter. If I speak at Fremont or elsewhere during the next few days I may 
say: — 

'"My letter of acceptance, in July last, expressed what I thought were just 
sentiments on the leading questions which then interested the country. I thought 
its doctrines were sound before the election; I think they are sound now that the 
election is over; and if the issue pending in Congress shall be decided in our favor, 
these principles will be the standard by which my official conduct shall be guided. 
If I were to write that letter now, I would give that part on the Southern question 
greater emphasis. The great body of the people of this country earnestly desire 
a wise and just settlement of that question. They want peace — they long for 
repose. WTiat is required is: — 

" ' First, that for the protection and welfare of the colored people, the Thir- 
teenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments shall be sacredly observed and 
faithfully enforced according to their true intent and meaning. 

'"Second. We all see that the tremendous revolution which has passed over 
the Southern people has left them impoverished and prostrate, and we all are 
deeply solicitous to do what may constitutionally be done to make them again 
prosperous and happy. They need economy, honesty, and intelligence in their 
local governments. They need to have such a policy adopted as will cause sec- 
tionalism to disappear, and that will tend to wipe out the color line. They need 
to have encouraged immigration, education, and every description of legitimate 
business and industry. We do not want a united North nor a united South. We 
want a united country. And if the great trust shall be devolved upon me, I fer- 
vently pray that the Divine Being, who holds the destinies of the nations in his 
hands, will give me wisdom to perform its duties so as to promote the truest and 
best interests of the whole country.'" (Diary, February 25.) 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 13 

people ground for confidence that he was not uttering empty 
and meaningless phrases by this emphatic declaration : — 

Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my 
earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interests, the inter- 
ests of the white and of the colored people, both and equally, and to 
put forth my best eflForts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever 
wipe out in our political affairs the color line, and the distinction between 
North and South, to the end that we may have, not merely a united 
North or a united South, but a united country. 

Equally emphatic was his insistence on the importance and 
need of civil service reform — "thorough, radical, and com- 
plete." That the country generally recognized this need and 
desired its fulfilment was evidenced by the practically identical 
demands of the platforms of the two great parties. It should be 
remembered that "he serves his party best who serves his coun- 
try best" — a phrase whose aptness and felicity have made it 
one of the permanent political maxims of the race.^ To aid in 
obtaining this reform and in making it secure, he recommended 
the adoption of a constitutional amendment providing for a 
Presidential term of six years and forbidding reelection. In the 

^ "The sentence in my inaugural message which has been often quoted, 
namely, 'He serves his party best who serves his country best,' occurred to me as 
I was walking east on the north side of Broad Street in Columbus with a small 
party of friends in 1877. I was pondering the inaugural address, and talking of it 
with, I think, Rogers, Dick Anderson, Denny Rogers, and Mitchell, — perhaps, 
also. General Beatty. We were going from my residence to General Mitchell s. 
' Serve your party by serving your country ' ; ' You will serve your party if you 
serve your country ' ; ' So serving our country is the best way to serve our party'; 
are among the forms of statement that occurred to me. The best service of party 
is service to the country." (Diary, August 3, 1880.) 

This apothegm was later put in Latin as Qui patriae optime servit optime servit 
suis partibus. The Indianapolis Journal thought it found a clue to the origin or 
inspiration of the maxim in Pope's translation of the tenth book of Homer's Iliad, 
where Nestor goes through the camp to wake up the captains, and arousing 
Diomed says: — 

"Each single Greek, in this conclusive strife. 
Stands on the sharpest edge of death or life. 
Yet if my years thy kind regard engage, 
Employ thy youth as I employ my age ; 
Succeed to these my cares, and rouse the rest ; 
He serves me most who serves my country best." 

The Journal continued: "The similarity of the last line to the celebrated expres- 
sion used by President Hayes is striking. It is probable he was at some period of 
his life a close reader of the Iliad, and that this expression found a lodgment in his 
mind, to crop out in a slightly modified form after many years. This supposition 
is strengthened by his allusion to ' Greeks ' in one of his Southern speeches." 



14 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HA\1ES 

light of the repeated experiences of recent years, of the perni- 
cious activity of placemen to manipulate primaries and control 
conventions in the interest of the renomination of the Presi- 
dent, — permitted, sanctioned, or connived at by the Execu- 
tive; in the light of the undignified, if not scandalous and 
demoralizing performances of eagerly ambitious Presidential 
aspirants, what sober-minded patriot but must deeply deplore 
the fact that President Hayes's wise proposal failed of consum- 
mation? 

Further, he briefly but earnestly declared his continued adher- 
ence to his well-known views on the subject of the currency. He 
made it clear that so far as he was concerned there should be 
no relaxation of effort to bring about "an early resumption of 
specie payment," being "satisfied not only that this is wise, 
but that the interests as well as the sentiment of the country 
imperatively demand it." 

He rejoiced that this country, under his predecessor, had set 
the world the beneficent example bf submitting grave questions 
of international dispute to peaceful adjudication by arbitration, 
and he announced his purpose to follow this method should 
occasion arise in his Administration. And in language of judi- 
cial sobriety and perfect good taste he spoke of the electoral 
contest and the mode of its decision, declaring: "The fact that 
two great political parties have in this way settled a dispute, in 
regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law, no 
less than as to the proper course to be pursued, in solving the 
question in controversy, is an occasion for general rejoicing." 
This was something new in the history of the world's political 
crises. His peroration acknowledged dependence on Divine 
guidance and ended with an impressive appeal to all men in 
authority and to all citizens to aid in making the country "a 
Union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the 
loving devotion of a free people." 

Examination of a vast number of editorial expressions of the 
day, as well as of innumerable letters and dispatches to the 
President, shows that the inaugural address made an altogether 
favorable and reassuring impression upon the judicious public 
sentiment. Naturally the bitterly disappointed Democratic 
journals, still smarting from the frustration of their hopes. 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 15 

indulged in carping criticism and emotional disapproval. But 
the more sensible and sober Southern papers, while suspending 
judgment on the President's conciliatory expressions toward the 
South until these had found interpretation in deeds, recognized 
and applauded the kindliness of spirit which animated his words 
and waited in hope for their fulfilment. The dominant note of 
conservative opinion was concisely indicated by the Nation,^ 
which said: "The address is a clear, modest, and sensible docu- 
ment, which promises nothing which reasonable men may not 
hope to see performed, and leaves nothing untouched of which 
mention was desirable." 

But the more radical "elder statesmen" of the Senate were 
by no means pleased with the tone of the address, either as it 
related to the South or to civil service reform. In the campaign 
they had quietly ignored Mr. Hayes's assurances on these topics 
as the harmless vagaries of an unskilled candidate, well calcu- 
lated perhaps to tickle the ears of troublesome and visionary 
Pharisees and reformers, but assuredly not to be permitted to 
interfere with their purposes and perquisites. Did not they — 
experienced and practical men (especially practical) — know 
what was best for the South, and the country, and the party? 
Did not they know what their rights and prerogatives, by long 
assumption and prescription, were in the disposition of the spoils 
of office? Were they not to be consulted and appeased and 
deferred to in the formation of the Cabinet, disconcerting and 
well-authenticated reports of the composition of which were al- 
ready abroad? What sort of man was this who had the temerity 
to propose to shape his administrative policy and to select his 
advisers, albeit in strict conformity with the party's declared 

^ Issue of March 8, 1877. — Compare: "There have been few inaugural ad- 
dresses superior to that of President Hayes in mingled wisdom, force, and modera- 
tion of statement. And it is one of the happy facts of the occasion that the fiery 
partisan contest of the last nine months ends in the accession of a President 
whose first words tend to allay fury and placate passion. . . . The general policy 
indicated ... is unquestionably that which is approved by the intelligence and 
patriotism of the whole country." (George William Curtis in Harper's Weekly, 
March 24, 1877.) The impression made abroad was equally favorable. Writing 
to the President, March 10, from London, the American Minister, Edwards 
Pierrepont, said: "No message of a President to the people has ever been re- 
ceived with such universal favor on this side the Atlantic as the late inaugural. 
It seems the harbinger of peace and union and prosperity in the future." 



16 RUTHERFORD BIRCIURD HAYES 

mandate and his own avowed principles, without seeking their 
advice and yielding to their admonition? Surely he must be 
taken in hand at once and made to understand that the wise 
party leaders of the Senate were the real power in the state, 
which he could not safely refuse to take into account. 

Mr. Blaine, aggrieved and indignant because he was not al- 
lowed to name a member of the Cabinet, rashly assumed the 
leadership of the refractory coterie. In the Senate, on March 
6, he plunged precipitately mto the arena and waved the flag 
of opposition and revolt, thinking evidently to put himself at 
the head of his party in the Senate by voicing what he blindly 
assumed would be the controlling Repubhcan sentiment of the 
country. "In a confident and aggressive manner, which re- 
called his former exploits of dashing leadership in the House," 
as one newspaper correspondent of the day put it,^ he made 
the speech which he delivered in favor of seating ex-Governor 
Kellogg, of Louisiana, elected by the Packard Legislature, the 
occasion of virtually defying the President to carry out what was 
believed to be his contemplated policy in relation to Louisiana. 
At the end of his blustering pronouncement the Senate ad- 
journed; Kellogg and the carpetbag Senators rushed to him with 
effusive congratulations; but the more moderate members were 
dismayed at what they interpreted as a declaration of war in 
case the President adhered to the purpose foreshadowed in his 
inaugural address. Shrewd observers of the day did not credit 
Mr. Blaine with sincerely patriotic motives in his attack; rather 
they traced it to offended self-esteem and to the hope that by 
his sensational aggressiveness he could still force the President 
to regard his wishes in making up the Cabinet.^ 

Swayed by similar feelings that their high standing and im- 
portance were being slighted by the President in selecting his 
constitutional advisers. Senators Conkling and Cameron were 
known to be in anything but an amiable mood. How dared 
the President ignore their "claims" and deny their solicitation? 

* New York Tribune, March 7. 

* "The speech made by Mr. Blaine was evidently prepared with careful pur- 
pose, and great pains were taken to give it wide circulation, verbatim copies hav- 
ing been freely furnished to the newspapers. The purpose is believed to be to 
scare President Hayes into appointing Mr. Frye to the Cabinet." (WashiugtoQ 
correspondence New York Times, March 7.) 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 17 

What assurance could they have that their overlordship of the 
Federal offices in their States could be maintained in the glory- 
that had been theirs if they could not each name a member of 
the Cabinet, and if fantastic notions of civil service reform were 
actually to prevail? ^ While these three Senators were the most 
conspicuous and outspoken in complaint and criticism, many 
others more or less openly approved of their course and were 
inclined to make common cause with them. 

Meanwhile, unswayed by the murmurs of displeasure of the 
"elder statesmen," and beset as he was by innumerable callers, 
Mr. Hayes was deliberately completing his Cabinet. For many 
weeks before leaving Columbus his mind had been busy with 
this important problem, and already when he reached Washing- 
ton he had practically decided upon all but two or three names. 
In coming to his conclusions he had freely counselled with the 
political friends whose judgment he most highly respected — 
Mr. Wheeler, Senator Sherman, Mr. Schurz, General Cox, 
William Henry Smith, Judge Force, and many others; had 
solicitously sought information from trusted correspondents re- 
garding men under tentative consideration, and had sedulously 
weighed the suggestions made by friendly journals or contained 
in the unsolicited letters of advice which came to him by scores 
from every part of the country. The first detailed reference 
to the subject in the diary was January 17, when Mr. Hayes 
wrote: — 

On the subject of Cabinet, I have talked with Mr. ■\Alieeler, General 
Cox, General Buckland, and a few others. I am inclined to say that I 
must not take either of the leading competitors for the Presidential 
nomination, nor any member of the present Cabinet. My thoughts rest 
on Evarts for the first place. On Governor Rice or Forbes, of Massachu- 
setts, or Sherman for Treasury; on General Harlan, of Kentucky, for 
Attorney-General. I think well of General Harrison, of Indiana, and 
Settle, of North Carolina, for places. Governor Hartranft has a Demo- 
cratic Lieutenant-Governor, or he might be favorablj^ considered. Mc- 
Crary, of Iowa, for a place. Booth, of California (but his seat in the 
Senate would be filled by a Democrat). 

February 17, after a month of deliberation, Mr. Hayes 
wrote : — 

^ "Snivel serrice reform," Mr. Conkling once sneeringly called it. 



18 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Last evening Louisiana was decided by the Commission in our favor. 
There is still some doubt, but apparently very little, of the result. The 
inaugural and Cabinet-making are now in order. I would like to get 
support from good men of the South — late Rebels. How to do it is the 
question. I have the best disposition toward the Southern people — 
Rebels and all. I could appoint a Southern Democrat in the Cabinet. 
But who would take it among the capable and influential good men of 
those States.'' General Joseph E. Johnston occurs to me. I must think 
of this. 

Two days later he recorded definitely the principles that should 
be observed in selecting his advisers : — 

1 . A new Cabinet — no member of the present. 

2. No Presidential candidates. 

3. No appointment to "take care" of anybody. 

These principles, once established after due reflection in his 
thought, yielded hereafter to no pressure or compromise, how- 
ever urgent or plausible the solicitation that influential party 
leaders employed in the effort to break their force. 

Mr. Hayes had felt some delicacy about formally asking men 
to enter his Cabinet while doubt of the outcome of the electoral 
controversy still existed. But the decision in the Louisiana case, 
he felt, practically settled the question, so that there could be 
no possible impropriety in now declaring his wishes. The first 
man invited to join his official family was Senator Sherman, to 
whom he addressed the following letter : ^ — 

Confidential. Columbus, Ohio, 19 February, 1877. 

My DEAn Sir, — The more I think of it, the more diflScult it seems for 
me to get ready to come to Washington before Wednesday or Thursday 
of next week. I must fix affairs at Fremont, and can't begin it until I 
know the result. Why can't friends be sent or come here.' 

It seems to me proper now to say that I am extremely desirous that 
you should take the Treasury Department. Aside from my own per- 
sonal preference, there are many and controlling reasons why I should 
ask 5'ou to do this. It will satisfy friends here in Ohio. I understand 
Governor Morton and our friends in Washington like it. The country 
will approve it. You are by all odds the best fitted for it of any man in 
the nation. Your resignation from the Senate will be a great loss to that 
body, but it will cause no serious dissensions or difficulties in Ohio. Do 
not say no until I have had a full conference with you. There is no 

* Mr. Sherman {Recollections, vol. i, chap, xxvni) says that previously to 
this letter "President Hayes frequently, in personal'conversation and in writing, 
had expressed a strong desire that I should become bis Secretary of the Treasury." 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 19 

reason why you shoiild not visit Ohio as soon as you can be spared from 
Washington. Of course the public will know of our meeting. But they 
will be gratified to know it. No possible harm can come of it. I should 
have said all this before, but I did not want to embarrass you in your 
action on Presidential questions. — Sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 
Hon. John Sherman. 

Mr. Sherman at once visited Columbus, and becoming assured 
that his resignation from the Senate would create no political 
embarrassment in Ohio, he accepted the offer. Mr. Hayes com- 
missioned him to confer with Mr. Evarts regarding the port- 
folio of the State Department, he himself being reluctant to 
communicate directly with him until the Electoral Commission, 
before which Mr. Evarts was the chief counsel for the Republi- 
can party, had completed its labors. 

A few days later Mr. Hayes wrote Mr. Schurz as follows: — 

ExECUTTvrE Department, 

State of Ohio, 

Columbus, 25 February, 1877. 

My deae General, — I am just about to start for Fremont to stay 
over Sunday. I write hastily to return the enclosed letters, and to say a 
few words. I do not, or have not, desired to be committed on Cabinet 
appointments untU the issue was reached. But it is perhaps proper to 
say that, if elected, it has for a long time been my wish to invite you to 
take a place in the Cabinet. I think it would be fortunate for the coun- 
try, and especially so for myself if you are one of the members of the 
Cabinet. I am not likely to change that opinion. The Interior Depart- 
ment is my preference for you. The Post-OflSce would come next. For 
State I hope to have Mr. Evarts, but have not consulted him. Mr. 
Sherman wUl probably take the Treasury. If nothing occurs to change 
my plans I expect to go to Washington about Thursday next. All 
this is on the supposition that we are successful, and is to be strictly 
confidential. — Sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

General C. Schurz. 

A favorable response ^ came by return mail to which Mr. 
Hayes replied : — 

^ "I shall not try to conceal from j'ou that the terms in which you invite me to 
become a member of your Cabinet are exceedingly gratifying to my feelings. 
Even if the expressions of friendly sentiment in yom* note were not accompanied 
by an offer of high official honor and of an opportxmity to render some service to 
the country', I should most highly prize them as a mark of the confidence of a 
man whom I esteem so sincerely and whose personal friendship I shall ever cherish 



90 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Executive Department, 

State of Ohio, 

Columbus, 27 February, 1877. 

My dear Gexeral, — I am very glad to get your note of yesterday. 
Your choice of Department is also my choice for you. I should be de- 
lighted to have you go with us to Washington if we are declared elected 
before we start. But I do not want my selection of Cabinet advisers 
known until that result is announced. I will dispatch you as to train. 
In case of a favorable decision Wednesday, we start about noon Thurs- 
day. If no favorable decision is reached Wednesday, we do not start 
until in the night of Thursday. My idea is to leave undecided, or rather 
uncommitted, some places until I reach Washington. Say War, Navy, 
and Postmaster-General. I write in the midst of interruptions — pro- 
vokingly so. — Sincerely, 

R. B. Hates. 

General Carl Schurz. 

Mr. Hayes reluctantly gave up his idea of appointing General 
Joseph E. Johnston Secretary of War. His thought was that no 
single act within his power would so effectually prove his good 
will toward the South, and show to the country and the world 
how fully the Civil War was a thing of the past and how com- 
plete was the confidence of the American people in the restored 
Union, as the presence in the Cabinet of this distinguished and 
conspicuously able and popular Confederate commander. Gen- 
eral Sherman, then the commander-in-chief of the army, to 
whom General Johnston had surrendered twelve years before, 
had no personal objection to the appointment, but was sure that 
it would be resented by the old soldiers and by people generally.* 
Consultation with political friends also convinced Mr. Hayes, 
to his regret, that the public opinion of the North had not yet 
attained the state of magnanimity to bear patiently with so bold 

and be proud of. That confidence and friendship it will always be my endeavor 
to deserve and thus to show my gratitude by something better than words." 
(Letter of Carl Schurz, February 26.) 

^ "I have conversed with General Sherman. He gives an excellent account of 
General Joe Johnston, his habits, character, and associations, and he thinks his 
personal merits maj- surely be recognized by appointment as Marshal of Virginia 
or some similar position; but he is of the opinion that his designation to a Cabinet 
oflSce would not be wise. The only place in the Cabinet for which he is fitted is 
that of Secretary of War, and that would be distasteful to the ex-soldiers of the 
Union army and to the i)ublic. Personally, he says, he could get along well with 
Johnston; but it encounters the same feeling as Banning's proposal to open the 
army to ox-Rebel officers." (Letter to Mr. Hayes from John Sherman, dated 
Washington February 25.) 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 21 

and generous an action.^ Mr. Hayes, however, did not abandon 
his purpose to place a genuine Southern man in his Cabinet. 
Many names were considered, but his choice finally fell upon 
David M. Key, of Tennessee, whose term as Senator — he 
having been appointed by the Governor on the death of Andrew 
Johnson — expired March 4. He was a lifelong Democrat; had 
served with distinction in the Confederate army; but since the 
war had accepted fully the new conditions and during the elec- 
toral dispute had been notably temperate in speech and in 
advocating reasonable action. He was named for Postmaster- 
General.^ 

1 "Governor Hayes asked me what Senator Morton would think of the 
appointment of Joe Johnston as Secretary of War. I replied, 'Great God! 
Governor, I hope you are not thinking of doing anything of that kind !' " (Colonel 
W. R. Holloway, MS. report of visit to Columbus.) 

U.S. Senate Chamber, Washington, 

3 March, 1877. 

Mt dear Mr. President, — I have had an hour to reflect on the suggestion 
you made to me in regard to the War Department; and I cannot refrain from 
expressing my views very frankly. 

1 think it would burden your Administration needlessly and gratuitously from 
the very outset with a thousand enmities and animosities — the extent and exist- 
ence of which you may not have fully measured, but which are bitter and unre- 
lenting. Indeed, to be brief, it seems to me to have every hearty condemnation 
adverse to it, and not one in its favor. It would be infra dig., on the one hand, 
and ouirS and extraordinary, on the other, and would harm everybody and help 
nobody. 

..' You did me the honor to ask my advice. I give it thus frankly with no 
consideration but one of anxiety for the success and prosperity of your Admin- 
istration. — Sincerely, 

J. G. Bl.une. 

2 Mr. Hayes had received many assurances from public men of Mr. Key's 
character and worth, and these he was confident were well founded, when a letter 
written by Mr. Key, February 16, to a personal friend was placed in his hands. 
Mr. Key wrote: — 

"I am ready to do all I can to restore confidence and good government to the 
people of the South. This can only be done by a hearty fraternization of the sec- 
tions, for which I have labored. If, without requiring of me the sacrifice of any 
personal or political independence, you find that my name can be used for the 
good of the South, in your best judgment, you are at liberty to use it. If I were to 
become a member of an Administration I should not feel at liberty to place my- 
self in opposition to its general policy, but should feel bound to build it up and 
strengthen it in the hearts of the people; and if the time arrived when I could not 
heartily cooperate with it, I should resign. As matters are in the South I should 
be more useful to our people in an independent position, and if, as I hope and 
believe, the Administration will develop a broad and liberal policy toward the 
people of the South, I would not hesitate to incorporate my fortunes and self 
with it." 



22 RUXnERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Final decision in this case was declared after Mr. Hayes 
reached Washington. The same thing is true also of the De- 
partments of War and Navy and the Attorney-Generalship, 
though George W. McCrary, of Iowa, had been definitely de- 
termined on for one of these positions. After his arrival at Wash- 
ington iMr. Hayes offered a seat in the Cabinet to Eugene Hale, 
an able member of Congress from Maine, who was the son-in-law 
of Zachariah Chandler. Mr. Hale declined the offer; whereupon 
Mr. Blaine insisted on the appointment of William P. Frye, 
also a Congressman from Maine, and a man whose ability was 
beyond dispute. But Mr. Hayes firmly refused to allow Mr. 
Blaine to dictate a Cabinet appointment, thus provoking the 
wrath and resentment of that powerful leader, who, as already 
related, at once sought to arouse opposition to the President 
among the Republicans of the Senate. Senator Cameron also 
was equally insistent that his son, Don Cameron, should be 
retained as Secretary of War. But that was out of the question 
if "a neiv Cabinet" was to be formed, and to that rule no ex- 
ception could be made — even had Don Cameron been the kind 
of man to ornament a reform Cabinet — without reflecting on 
other and worthier members of General Grant's Cabinet whom 
other party leaders desired to see continued in place. So Senator 
Cameron, long in undisputed control of Pennsylvania Republi- 
canism, assumed an air of injured dignity and breathed out 
threatenings and slaughter. Friends of General Logan, who had 
recently failed of reelection to the Senate, pertinaciously urged 
his appointment, all unconscious apparently of how discordant 
an element his narrow and flaming partisanship and his low 
ideals of political effort would introduce into a Cabinet which 
was to reflect and enforce the reform principles which Mr. 
Hayes had avowed. So these champions were likewise dissatis- 
fied and ready to stir up trouble. 

After the declination of Mr. Hale, Mr. Hayes promptly de- 
cided upon Judge Charles Devens, of the Massachusetts Su- 
preme Court, who was warmly recommended by Senator Hoar 
and Vice-President Wheeler, to be the New England representa- 
tive in the Cabinet, naming him for Attorney-General. There- 
upon Mr. McCrary, who had been thought of for that place, was 
assigned to the War Department, and only the Navy Department 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 23 

remained to be filled. For that position (or some other in the 
Cabinet) he desired, from his high regard for Senator Morton 
and his admiration for his political sagacity and patriotism, — 
though disapproving of his vacillation on the money question 
and not sympathizing with his extreme views regarding the 
South, — to find a suitable man in Indiana. His first thought 
was of General Harrison, who, coming into the state contest 
at the eleventh hour, when Godlove S. Orth, candidate for Gov- 
ernor, had been forced off the ticket, had made a gallant though 
unsuccessful campaign to win Indiana to the Republican cause. 
But General Harrison, for one reason or another, had incurred 
the hostility of Senator Morton,^ and so his name was dropped 
and many others were canvassed. Finally the choice narrowed 
down to John W. Foster, at that time Minister to Mexico, and 
Richard W. Thompson, famous since 1840 for his political ora- 
tory,2 who had placed Morton in nomination at Cincinnati. Of 
these two Mr. Hayes was inclined to prefer General Foster, the 
younger, abler, and more active man. But as it would take so 
long for him to reach Washington, and as it was desirable that 
all members of the Cabinet should be installed at once, Colonel 
Thompson won the distinction. 

The names of the men designated for the principal places in 
the Cabinet were known in Washington on the day of the in- 
auguration and were telegraphed to the papers throughout the 
country. The names of all the others, though without correct 
assignment of their portfolios, were known the following day. 
They clearly reflected and emphasized the conciliatory and 
reform assurances of the inaugural address, and they had 

^ Colonel W. R. Holloway, brother in-law and confidant of Senator Morton, is 
authority for the statement that Morton's antipathy was due to the fact "that 
during the pending of the Electoral Commission Bill in the Senate, a dispatch was 
sent to Senator Conkling, signed by Harrison, Gresham, and a half-dozen other 
prominent Republicans of Indianapolis, urging the passage of the bill. This dis- 
patch was read in the Senate by Senator Conkling with a great flourish of trum- 
pets to show that Morton did not represent the Republicans of Indiana in oppos- 
ing the Commission Bill. . . . After that Morton left Harrison severely alone." 

^ Colonel W. R. Holloway visited Columbus at Senator Morton's request to 
discuss Indiana men with Mr. Hayes. In a manuscript account of the conference 
Colonel Holloway says: "He [Hayes] said he remembered having heard Thomp- 
son make a speech in 1840 and he still remembered the clear and bell-like tones of 
his voice. I told him that his voice had not failed a particle and that he was still 
good for a three hours' speech any day or night without previous notice." 



24 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HA\1ES 

manifestly been chosen without humble deference to the influ- 
ences that had long been controlling Republican destinies in 
the Senate. Consequently, as already indicated, both they and the 
manner of their selection were mightily displeasing to the "elder 
statesmen," who in their desperation and resentment were pre- 
pared to go the length of refusing confirmation. The particular 
grievances of Senators Blaine and Cameron and of General 
Logan have already been set out. Senator Conkling's chagrin 
was due not only to his antipathy to Mr. Evarts, whom the 
public sentiment of the country for weeks had recognized as the 
man of all others to be Secretary of State, ^ but to the fact that 
choice of Mr. Evarts had been made without seeking his advice 
(for he arrogantly, though no doubt sincerely, believed that he 
was entitled to be sole and supreme dictator of all things Re- 
publican in New York State,) ^ and to the further fact that he 
ardently desired a place in the Cabinet for his most trusted 
political lieutenant, Thomas C. Piatt. 

The opposition to the proposed selections for the Cabinet 
centred especially on Messrs. Evarts, Schurz, and Key. On 
Mr. Evarts mainly, it would seem, because he was disliked by 
Mr. Conkling and because he had not been active in party 
politics.^ Many objections were urged against Mr. Schurz, He 
had not been consistently "regular" in party fealty; he had been 
foremost in condemning President Grant's Administration; had 
been one of the most conspicuous men in the Liberal Republican 

' " For many weeks before there was any evidence that Mr. Hayes intended to 
offer Mr. Evarts a place in the Cabinet, public opinion had designated him for 
Secretary of State with a unanimity which betokened universal recognition of his 
claims on the score of merit and qualification." (Editorial, New York Herald, 
March 7.) 

2 "Conkling was so swallowed up in his own egotism that the whole world 
around him was unseen. True to his own desires meant fidelity to party, to duty, 
to country. His admirers shared largely in his own delusions." (From letter of 
Mr. Hayes to AYilliam Henry Smith, June 11, 1888.) 

' An indication of the feeling of the Stalwart Republicans in New York toward 
Mr. Evarts is afforded in a letter of Mr. T. C. Piatt to Mr. Hayes, written Sep- 
tember 23, 1876, in which he said: " I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if 
Hon. George William Curtis's favorite candidate, Mr. Evarts, had been nomi- 
nated [for Governor of New York], he would have been defeated beyond a perad- 
venture. The working Republicans of the State would not have supported a man 
who has never shown his faith by his works, who has received wealth and honor 
from an Administration which he has publicly abused and vilified, and whose 
record as a Republican has been more than doubtful." 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 25 

movement of 1872 and In the Fifth Avenue Hotel Conference 
of 1876; he was too much of an idealist for this practical, work- 
aday world; he had been too outspoken in criticism of the 
methods and measures of the little coterie of "Grant Senators," 
and in denouncing their low and sordid views of politics; he had 
not shown in his many different activities that he possessed 
administrative ability; he was the very embodiment of the 
fantastic idea of civil service reform. His presence in the Cabi- 
net would be an affront to every statesman, the first article of 
whose faith was the sacred duty of party regularity and who saw 
with alarm the threatened attack on his prescriptive right of 
patronage. Opposition to Mr. Key was solely on the ground 
that he was a Democrat. Surely things were coming to a pretty 
pass when a Republican President thought it advisable or de- 
sirable to invite a member of the defeated party, however able 
and distinguished, into the inmost circle of governmental au- 
thority. The millennium was not yet come and no such tran- 
scendental performance should be sanctioned or tolerated. 

It was with such thoughts uppermost in the minds of many 
that the Senators assembled Wednesday morning. The question 
of the seating of Kellogg, which the sudden adjournment of the 
day before had left in the air, was again taken up, and Mr. Blaine 
repeated with fresh truculence the views he had then expressed. 
Just as the heated discussion came to an end, the President's 
private secretary, W. K. Rogers, appeared in the chamber 
bearing the Cabinet nominations. The Senate promptly went 
into executive session and the mutinous spirit which animated 
the controlling Republican leaders was quickly made manifest. 
It had been the practically invariable custom of the Senate to 
confirm Cabinet appointments immediately on presentation, 
and without reference to committees. It had been the unwritten 
rule of the Senate, seldom if ever transgressed, to confirm with 
similar promptitude the nomination to any office of a member of 
the Senate or of any man that had been a member thereof, the 
reasonable presumption being that the Senators were already 
so well informed of such a man's qualification that reference to 
a committee was superfluous. But now both these long-estab- 
lished and well-founded precedents were lightly set aside. The 
rules of the Senate, to be sure, required the reference of all 



26 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

nominations to the appropriate committees; and the rules could 
be waived only by unanimous consent, which previously in such 
cases had always been granted as a matter of course. But now, 
on the motion to confirm the nomination of Mr. Evarts, whose 
name naturally took precedence, Mr. Cameron at once objected, 
and Mr. Blaine moved that it be referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations when that committee should be constituted. 
Discussion followed in which several Senators participated who 
expressed indignant disapproval of one or another nomination. 
Specially vigorous were the objections made to Mr. Schurz and 
to Mr. Key. The outcome was that all the nominations, even 
that of Senator Sherman, were referred to various committees. 

The inference drawn by the press and the people of the coun- 
try, when this unprecedented procedure of the Senate became 
known, was that the Republican leaders of the Senate seriously 
contemplated the rejection of some or all of the Cabinet nomi- 
nations. The Democrats were elated at the prospect of dissen- 
sion and division among the Republicans. The Senators of that 
party met in caucus Wednesday evening for conference in re- 
gard to the course they had better pursue. Wliile no formal 
action was taken a disposition was manifested to foster Republi- 
can confusion and to refuse to vote for confirmation of the Cabi- 
net unless positive assurances were given from the White House 
that Packard and Chamberlain, as Governors respectively of 
Louisiana and South Carolina, were not to be sustained. But 
certain of the wiser Senators from the South deprecated any 
attempt at bargaining. 

Throughout the country the nominations to the Cabinet were 
received with a storm of enthusiastic approval, and the conduct 
of the Senate was condemned and denounced. Commendatory 
dispatches and letters from representative men poured into 
the White House accompanied with earnest exhortation to the 
President to stand firm. The leading papers of the country in 
their editorial utterances reflected the popular approval and 
likewise urged the President not to yield an inch to senatorial 
assumption and dictation. But Mr. Hayes, conscious of the 
rectitude of his purposes, and not easily affrighted by factious 
opposition, needed no exliortation to remain steadfast in a posi- 
tion he had on due reflection once deliberately assumed. 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 27 

On Thursday the Senate so far receded from its position of the 
day before as to confirm the nomination of Senator Sherman. 
This followed after an hour's debate, the reason assigned for an 
exception in his case being that it was necessary to know whether 
he was a Senator or not before the committee assignments were 
announced.^ The attitude toward the other nominations re- 
mained unchanged, and Senator Cameron spoke in favor of 
the rejection of most of them. Friday the committees were 
announced and the nominations were referred, as ordered on 
Wednesday, to those concerned with the duties of the various 
Departments. Senator Cameron, who had been constantly busy 
among the Senators, Democrats as well as Republicans, foment- 
ing opposition to the nominations, sought to have the Senate 
adjourn till Monday, but the motion was decisively voted down. 

Meanwhile the Senators that had so boldly set out to teach 
the President that it was his duty to defer to their superior wis- 
dom, were hearing from the country. Word was reaching them 
of meetings of representative men, held in New York, Phila- 
delphia, and many other important cities, which adopted reso- 
lutions commending the President's inaugural address and his 
Cabinet appointments and condemning their conduct; tele- 
grams from influential party men, from political clubs, and from 
commercial bodies were streaming in upon them from all parts 
of the country, imploring confirmation without delay; and the 
powerful and practically unanimous voice of public opinion, 
echoed and emphasized by the newspaper press, was penetrating 
their consciousness with its imperative admonition. Bewildered 
and dazed by the popular indignation that their purblind antag- 
onism to the President had evoked, they were perforce compelled 
to admit that they had misread the signs of the times, and they 
hastily, albeit sullenly, fled to cover. By Saturday morning, 
when the Senate reassembled, the last remnants of opposition 
appeared to have melted away. When the nominations were 
favorably reported by the various committees, no member had 
the temerity to object to immediate consideration, though a 
single objection would have postponed action. Even the enemies 

* Twelve votes were cast against the confirmation, certain Democrats oppos- 
ing Mr. Sherman because of his activity and speeches in the Louisiana election 
dispute. 



28 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

I of Mr. Schurz did not venture to raise their voices. So that, 
I after all the bitterness and bickering of the week, Messrs. Evarts, 
Schurz, and Key, whose nominations had excited most repug- 
nance, were confirmed with only two opposing votes, and Messrs. 
' McCrary, Devens, and Thompson without a dissentient voice. ^ 
But the whole incident had served a good purpose by showing 
the country in a striking manner the pettiness of motive which 
had stirred certain great party leaders to captious opposition, 
and by clearly revealing the equable temper and unyielding 
firmness in a trying situation of the new President.'^ 

Mr. Hayes in his diary, March 14, gave this brief and color- 
less summary of the Cabinet complication : — 

* Mr. Cameron was so greatly piqued by his failure to get his son appointed to 
the Cabinet and by the confirmation of Mr. Evarts, whom he intensely disliked 
(with whom he, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, would have to 
be closely associated), that he promptly resigned his seat in the Senate. (New 
York Herald, March 13.) On his instruction, his Pennsylvania Legislature ob- 
sequiously elected Don Cameron as his successor. 

^ Senator Edmunds, who was ill and unable to be in his seat during the Cabi- 
net discussions, correctly apprehended the situation, as is shown by the following 
letter, written on the day when the nominations were confirmed : — 

Washington, March 10, 1877. 

Dear Mr. President, — I am sorry that being confined to my house by ill- 
ness since the first of March, and the prospect of being for some time to come 
unable to go about town, have put me under the necessity of making my congrat- 
ulations to you in writing. 

I hope you will not have been disturbed at the perhaps not entirely unnatural 
feeling, that in some quarters has presented itself. The situation is so unique, 
and the reality that a President really means to keep his promises made before 
election, that it is not at all surprising that the great chiefs should rufile their 
feathers a little. I cannot but hope, however, that after a space all will see their 
way clearly to pull together. — Very respectfully yours, 

Geo. F. Edmunds. 

George William Curtis, in Harper's Weekly (March 24), displayed like pene- 
tration: " It is very hard for an old politician to believe that a party man may 
have political convictions which he will not yield to what is called party neces- 
sity. . . . Here was a President who was more of a patriot than a partisan, who 
regarded public questions with the humane eye of statesmanship, more mindful 
of the general welfare than of party or personal advantage. Yet he had proposed 
principles only, not measures, and principles which his party has always pro- 
fessed, when the attack was made, and by implication, by innuendo, by assump-, 
tion, he an<l his policy, as yet unknown, were denounced to the country. The 
effort was made to discredit him with his party before a single measure was pro- 
posed; and the party whip was cracked for the double purpose of coercing him to 
the will of the old leadership, and of exciting against him in advance the suspicion 
of his political friends." 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 29 

The chief disappointment among the influential men of the party was 
with Conkling, Blaine, Camerons, Logan, and their followers. They 
were very bitter. The opposition was chiefly to Evarts, Key, and Schurz, 
and especially Schurz. Speeches were made, and an attempt to combine 
with the Democrats to defeat the confirmation of the nominations only 
failed to be formidable by the resolute support of the Southern Senators 
like Gordon, Lamar, and Hill. After a few days the public opinion of 
the country was shown by the press to be strongly with me. All of the 
nominations were confirmed by almost a unanimous vote. 

The expressions of satisfaction from all parts of the country are 
most gratifying. The press and the private correspondence of Rogers 
and myself are full of it.^ 

Of the members of the Cabinet the three ablest men — and 
there were few men of their period of greater ability — were 
Messrs. Evarts, Sherman, and Schurz. They were all men whose 
achievements had given them international fame. In all the 
land there was no lawyer of wider repute, of larger accomplish- 
ment, or of ampler capability than Mr. Evarts. He had been 
chief counsel for President Johnson in the impeachment trial, 
presenting an argument in defense on constitutional grounds, 
the convincing power of which no one will now dispute, and he 
was Attorney-General in Johnson's Cabinet the last few months 
of that most unpopular Administration. Extreme Republicans 
had never quite forgiven him for his association with Johnson. 
Before the Geneva Court of Arbitration he had been the leading 
counsel of the United States in presenting and defending the 
Alabama claims, doing his share with a thoroughness and efH- 
ciency that contributed greatly to the success of the American 
plea. And just now he had freely given his services as chief 
counsel of the Republican party in defending the party's cause 
before the Electoral Commission. His argument against the 
right of Congress to interfere with state authority in appointing 
Presidential electors, or to review its action, was unanswerable. 
Besides his fame as a lawyer Mr. Evarts had also won deservedly 
high repute as an orator both on the hustings and on great 
memorial occasions. In the whole country, by common consent, 

^ One note of commendation which the President highly prized came from 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, dated March 9. It was in the handwriting of James 
Russell Lowell and said simply : " The course of the President Is what we expected 
and heartily approve"; and was signed J. R. Lowell, Henry W. Longfellow, 
Charles VV. Eliot, F. J. Child, and C. E. Norton. 



30 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

no man was better equipped to continue the great traditions of 
the Department of State. 

Nor were there many men of discernment at that time — none, 
now — that would have denied the accuracy of the judgment 
expressed by Mr. Hayes in his letter inviting Mr. Sherman to be 
Secretary of the Treasury — that he was the man best fitted in 
the nation for that most important post. He had been a leader 
of the Republican party from its very beginning and continu- 
ously in Congress. In the House of Representatives, to which 
he was elected first in 1854, he soon gained distinction by his 
admirable powers in debate, his clear knowledge of public affairs, 
and his excellent judgment. Succeeding Mr. Chase in the Senate, 
when the latter became Secretary of the Treasury, he had, as a 
member, and now for many years as chairman of the Finance 
Committee, played a large part in shaping the financial legisla- 
tion of the country. He was more largely than any other one 
man responsible for the authorship and adoption by the Senate 
of the act to provide for the resumption of specie payments; 
and so was in complete sympathy with Mr. Hayes's financial 
views and purposes. He possessed to an unusual degree the 
confidence and respect alike of his fellow statesmen and of the 
general public, as a wise and prudent counsellor and as a 
vigorous and patriotic advocate and defender of the principles 
he espoused. 

Mr. Schurz had less of practical achievement to his credit 
than either Mr. Evarts or Mr. Sherman; but his career had been 
tinged with the glamour of romance, and he had impressed the 
country as an ardent, brilliant, and resourceful champion of 
whatever political course he believed at the time to be right. 
He would never temporize with his convictions nor compromise 
his principles for the sake of momentary success. Like many 
other German patriots, after the abortive revolutionary struggle 
of 1848, he had come to this country, imbued with fervid repuli- 
lican beliefs and aspirations, here to fjnd his home and to labor 
in the cause of better political life. He naturally allied himself 
with the new Republican party, and as orator (alike in German 
and English, of which he attained singularly felicitous mastery), 
editor, soldier, and statesman, he fought with unquenchable 
ardor in the struggle for freedom, for wise reconstruction, and 



INAUGURATION AND CABINET 31 

for purer administrative methods, maintaining throughout his 
lofty idealism of character and his glowing faith in the Republic. 
It was quite inevitable that he should oppose and criticize the 
tendencies of the controlling forces of the party under General 
Grant's Administration and throw himself heart and soul into 
the Liberal Republican movement of 1872, which the nomination 
of Horace Greeley doomed to certain disaster. It was equally 
inevitable that the character of Mr. Hayes and the assurances 
of his letter of acceptance should attract his enthusiastic cham- 
pionship. Throughout the canvass Mr. Hayes had no more 
zealous or effective supporter. He came into the Cabinet in 
perfect accord with Mr. Hayes's reform ideas and eager to 
assist in their realization. 

The other four men, though less notable, were men of solid 
attainments, of acknowledged ability, and of unblemished char- 
acter; and they believed sincerely in the general policy Mr. 
Hayes proposed to follow. Each one of them was well known 
and highly regarded in his own part of the country, and in the 
months just past Mr. Key, in the Senate, and Mr. McCrary, in 
the House, had gained distinction by the moderation and wisdom 
of their course in relation to the electoral dispute. Judge Devens 
had served gallantly during the war, rising for meritorious serv- 
ice to the rank of brevet major-general, and as associate justice 
of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts had won an enviable 
reputation as a jurist. Doubtless the weakest appointment was 
that of Mr. Thompson, though he did not prove inefficient. But 
Mr. Thompson had been conspicuous in political life for nearly 
forty years, having served as a Harrison elector for Indiana in 
1840. No campaign orator in the Central West had a fairer 
reputation for eloquence and effectiveness. He was known to 
have been the author of the Republican platform of 1860, and 
his skill in draughting platforms had often been called in requisi- 
tion. Though he was already advanced in years, his vigor was 
unabated, and he came to his high position with the respect 
and confidence of all who knew him well and with a zealous 
determination to render faithful service. 

Taken as a whole, the Cabinet proved to be, as it promised 
at the beginning, one of the ablest and most harmonious that 
the country had ever had. Contemporary opinion gave it 



32 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

hearty acclaim and subsequent judgment finds that acclaim 
fully merited. The members worked together without friction, 
devoted to their duties and loyal to their chief, for whom with 
constant association their respect and esteem deepened and in- 
creased.^ Mr. Hayes gave them all his full confidence and sup- 
port; but his closest relations, his most intimate intercourse, 
were with Mr. Sherman, who had long been his friend, and with 
Mr. Schurz, to whom, by reason of mutual intellectual sym- 
pathies and political ideals, he became affectionately attached. 

^ The Cabinet continued without change until December, 1879, when Mr. Mc- 
Crary was appointed District Judge for Iowa. He was succeeded by Alexander 
Ramsey, of Minnesota, who was long a Senator and had filled many other offices. 
In August, 1880, Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, recently Minister at St. Peters- 
burg, succeeded Mr. Key, who also was appointed District Judge — for East 
Tennessee. In January, 1881, Nathan GofiF, of West Virginia, became Secretary 
of the Navy, Mr. Thompson having resigned to become chairman of the Ameri- 
can Advisory Committee of the Panama Canal Company. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 

THE first subject to demand the serious attention of the 
new Administration was the disposition of the Southern 
problem. The problem was acute and the demand was exigent. 
President Grant had paltered with it, hesitating, for consist- 
ency's or policy's sake, to abandon the attitude he had long 
maintained or to take decided action while the Presidency hung 
in the balance. What he might have done had the count been 
quickly completed, it is useless to speculate upon, though cer- 
tain intimations he had given and his final dispatches ^ in rela- 
tion to the matter afford basis for the belief that he probably 
might, in that event, have reversed the course he had hitherto 
steadily pursued.^ Only two days of his term remained when the 

^ The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, who seems to have 
been most careful in his statements, telegraphed the Tribune, February 28, that 
there was "unquestioned authority" for stating "that the President has deter- 
mined, as soon as the counting of the electoral votes is completed, to change his 
policy toward the dual governments in Louisiana." And the next day, in reply 
to a dispatch from Packard, who had heard of the President's contemplated 
change of policy, this dispatch was sent: — 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, D.C, March 1, 1876. 
To Governor S. B. Packard, New Orleans, La.: — 

In answer to your dispatch of this date, the President directs me to say that he 
feels it his duty to state frankly that he does not believe public opinion will longer 
support the maintenance of State Government in Louisiana by the use of the 
military, and that he must concur in this manifest feeling. The troops will here- 
after, as in the past, protect life and property from mob violence when the state 
authorities fail, but under the remaining days of his official life they will not be 
used to establish or pull down either claimant for control of the State. It is not 
his purpose to recognize either claimant. 

C. C. Sniffen, Secretary. 

* John Sherman in a speech at Mansfield, August 17, 1877, said: "He [Presi- 
dent Grant] would not recognize Packard as Governor, but I know, what is now 
an open secret, the strong bent of his mind, and at one time his decision was to 
withdraw the troops, to recognize Nicholls, and thus end this dangerous contest. 
He did not do this, but kept the peace." 

Compare also: "Senator Jones, of Nevada, one of the particular friends of 



34 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

count was finished, and he evidently believed — quite sensibly 
— that in that time it was unwise either to forestall the prob- 
able action of his successor or by any new order to add further 
difficulties to the complexities of the situation. 

The Southern problem, in its present aspect, had been nar- 
rowed down to Louisiana and South Carolina. All the other 
Southern States, one after another, by the use at times of methods 
which even their authors and enforcers could justify only on the 
grounds of what they believed exculpatory necessity, had cast 
off negro and carpetbag rule, and established the control of the 
white Democrats, — who were the overwhelming majority of 
the intelligent and property-owning white people, and with 
whom most of the old Whigs of ante-bellum days were now 
identified. The violence, the outrage, and the fraudulent voting 
which had been incident to this "peaceful" political revolution 
had been condoned by Southern sentiment and vehemently 
reprobated by the general moral sense of the North; though 
more and more people of the North were inclined to extenuate 
these iniquities as necessary in the interest of civilization; and, 
anyway, as of no political concern to any States except the ones 
involved. 

At the date of the election in 1876 only three Southern States 
still had Republican Governors, Louisiana, South Carolina, and 
Florida; and Kellogg, in Louisiana, through the stormy period 
of his incumbency, had been able to maintain his authority only 
by reason of the protection of the federal army. In all these 
States the Democrats claimed the election of their state tickets, 
even though the Republican electors were declared to have been 
chosen; and they were determined to enforce their claims. In 
Florida, the State Supreme Court sustained the contention of 
the Democrats, the Republicans yielded under protest to the 
court's decision, and the Democratic Governor and Lieutenant- 
Governor were quietly installed. The prevailing sentiment of 
the State approved the consummation, and the protest of the 

General Grant, in recently saying that President Hayes's Southern aetion was a 
necessity, added : ' The election of President Hayes was all that prevented General 
Grant from pursuing the same course. I know that six months before the inaugu- 
ration of Hayes, Grant had determined that the colored voters of the United 
States could not be protected by United States troops.'" {Harper's Weekly, 
August 24, 1878.) 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 35 

Republicans fell on ears dull to all subjects but the absorbing 
question of the Presidential succession. 

But things were far otherwise in Louisiana and South Caro- 
lina. In both these States rival State Governments were set up, 
the Republican claimants acting under the sanction of the find- 
ing of the Returning Boards; the Democratic contestants rely- 
ing on the face of the uncorrected returns and appealing to the 
courts in justification of their procedure. In South Carolina 
the rival executives were Governor Chamberlain and Wade 
Hampton; in Louisiana, S. B. Packard and Francis T. Nicholls. 
The former, with the Republican portion of the Legislature in 
each State, were in possession of the state capitols and the state 
archives. But Messrs. Hampton and Nicholls had established 
executive offices outside, and the portion of the Legislatures 
that adhered to each of them had found a regular meeting-place 
in a public hall. Only by the presence and protection of federal 
troops were Messrs. Packard and Chamberlain able to sustain 
themselves in position and to maintain a show of authority; 
neither had a militia force of any account. Predominant public 
opinion — that of the intelligent and propertied classes — in 
the two States supported Messrs. Hampton and Nicholls. Men 
formed military organizations which were ready to act in their 
behalf, and freely made advance payment of taxes or contribu- 
tions to furnish them with means to carry on the government. 
In South Carolina the Supreme Court and courts of lower juris- 
diction recognized the Hampton Government. In Louisiana 
confusion was worse confounded by the existence of rival Su- 
preme Courts. President Grant refused to take a decisive stand, 
and refused likewise to withdraw the federal troops; but these 
were ordered merely to maintain the status quo — to keep the 
peace, to prevent an armed collision between the partisans of 
the rival administrations. He was evidently wavering in his 
confidence in the wisdom of the policy long pursued; evidently 
waiting to see the outcome of the Presidential contest. 

Meanwhile the supporters of Hampton and Nicholls were also 
waiting patiently and hopefully for the same event, and were 
refraining from the employment of force. At the same time, in 
earnest and dignified pronouncements they were presenting 
their grievances and claims to the country, and were appealing 



36 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

to the good sense of the nation to be treated as were the people 
of other States — to be left alone to determine and settle their 
own political disputes by the machinery of their laws and courts 
without the interference or direction of federal authority. What- 
ever the result of the Presidential count they believed or hoped 
that it would work to their advantage. With Tilden inaugurated 
there could be no doubt what would happen. And Mr. Hayes's 
letter of acceptance, reenforced by assurances given them of 
late by close friends of Mr. Hayes that he had not changed his 
views or intentions/ encouraged them to hope that likewise with 
him as President the end they sought would be attained. 

Undoubtedly the deepening conviction on the part of Northern 
Republicans of judicious temper was adverse to the national 
policy long exercised toward the South. ^Vhatever may have 
been the necessity of its adoption and continuance in the early 
years of reconstruction, — and that necessity they thought 
beyond dispute, — they felt now that the time was come for 
its modification. Certain it was that it had not accomplished 
what had been hoped of it; it had not brought about cordial 
relations between the races; rather it had provoked increased 
misunderstanding and animosity, which flamed forth in out- 
rages and terrorism, and sent masked men abroad at night to 
kill and burn: certain, too, that the State Governments it had 
protected by force of arms were a stench in the nostrils of honest 
men by reason of the ignorance, the injustice, and the appalling 
corruption that defiled their administration. Nor had the policy 
been successful regarded solely from the low plane of party poli- 
tics: it had not preserved the Republican party in the South; it 
had weakened the Republican party in the North. Moreover, 

» For example, the letter to General Gordon and John Y. Brown by Charles 
Foster and Stanley Matthews; and John Sherman in a letter to Mr. Hayes of 
February 17 said: "I have carefully considered the giving an assurance of your 
views on the Southern question, but do not see my way clear to quote you or 
even to say that I have received a letter from you on the subject. I talked with 
Boynton about it and with many Southern men, and have said that you un- 
doubtedly would stand by the words of your letter of acceptance in spirit and in 
sub.stance; and that you would make the Southern question a specialty in your 
Administration, but I have not quoted you directly and did not think it wise to 
do so. You have gained largely by your silence and caution since the election, 
and I do not wish to impair this by quoting you. To those who wish to be con- 
vinced I give ample assurance." 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 37 

it was indisputable that in the Southern States which by what- 
ever means had thrown off negro and carpetbag domination, 
fewer outrages occurred, purer government existed, and greater 
quiet and prosperity prevailed.^ On the score ahke of patriot- 
ism and of party expediency, therefore, Repubhcans who were 
affected by the considerations just set forth were ready to wel- 
come any action by the new Administration that promised to 
reheve the Government and to rid public discussion of the long 
embarrassing and wearisome Southern problem.^ 

The radical wing of the party, on the other hand« in which was 
still to be found a considerable proportion, if not, indeed, a 
numerical majority, of the Republicans of the North, refused to 
look calmly at the facts of the situation or to admit their force. 
They could think of the Democrats of the South, at least in all 
their relations to politics, only as unrepentant Rebels who ought 
to be kept down with a strong hand. Suppose these did suffer 

* Senator Key, in February, 1877, writing to Bangor (Maine) Democrats who 
had invited him to attend a Washington birthday celebration, used this language: 
"There is no disturbance, no conflict in any State which is left to govern its own 
affairs. They occur only where imscrupulous men impose upon the colored 
people to maintain power and place by which they may rob a weak and helpless 
people. What we need is the confidence of our Northern brethren — evidence 
that they can trust our honor and our manhood. It has been long since this has 
been manifested toward us. 'Brethren, let us love one another.'" 

^ * Compare speech by Congressman William P. Frye at reception accorded 
him by his constituents, Friday evening, March 9, 1877, reported the following 
day by the Lewiston (Maine) Journal. He said: "We must remember that slav- 
ery existed in this country for over a century, and that its leprous touch was put 
on the whole South. You have no right to expect that the South shall rise to the 
standard of patriotism and virtue of our Pilgrim Fathers. You have made those 
freedmen free and put the ballot in their hands. You have lifted them from the 
earth and clothed them with power equal to that of the white man. Can you 
expect white men to look on quietly and accept their late slaves as equals at the 
ballot-box and their superiors in oflBce.? You and I would rebel against that order 
of things. As good citizens, it is om- duty to extend the olive branch and forgive, 
having always before us one simple purpose, and that the good of the country we 
love. Our President is now extending the olive branch again. I trust the South 
will accept it, and that new life will be infused into the whole country. ... I 
think the Southern problem would have been solved long ago if political sagacity 
had been exercised eight years ago in the matter of appointments to office. For 
this reason the Southern problem is to-day twenty times further from solution 
than it should be. Unfortunately, we have allowed political vagabonds. United 
States Senators and Representatives from the South, to hold patronage, and 
deliver it out among their miserable adherents. Hence the stigma, 'carpet- 
bagger,' falls on every Northern man in the South." 



38 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

from corrupt carpetbag and ignorant negro rule; it was no more 
than they deserved for their stupendous wickedness in seeking 
to destroy the Government, and for their unaccountable per- 
versity in not at once accepting the full consequences of negro 
enfranchisement. They had sown the wind; let them reap the 
whirlwind; and let the patriotic men that had saved the Union 
see to it that the whirlwind was kept fiercely blowing. It would 
be nothing less than treachery to all the traditions of the party 
for a Republican Administration at Washington to deny recogni- 
tion and support to Packard and Chamberlain, the only two 
Republican Governors left south of Mason and Dixon's line. 
What if that did involve the continued use of the federal army 
to impose their administration on Louisiana and South Carolina? 
Let justice be done though the heavens fall! What had the 
temper and resistance of the intelligent and conservative classes 
of those two States to do with the case.^* How idle and incon- 
sequential to be talking of practical considerations when prin- 
ciples were at stake ! And so, on and on, to the end of the chapter. 
Moreover, the naked logic of the situation seemed to be with 
those who reasoned or felt in this wise. Were not the titles to 
office of Packard and Chamberlain of precisely the same quality 
and warrant as those of the Presidential electors of Louisiana 
and South Carolina, without whose votes Mr. Hayes could not 
have been President .f^ How could he refuse to recognize those 
men as the lawful Governors of their States and then fail to 
defend them in the exercise of their function without impugning 
the validity of the title on which his own authority was predi- 
cated? That was the question defiantly vociferated in the Senate 
by Mr. Blaine, before the echoes of the conciliatory expressions 
in Mr. Hayes's inaugural address had ceased to reverberate. 
And to those who looked only at the surface of things the ques- 
tion was unanswerable. Even in that case, however, the facts 
of the situation, the practical difficulties that must be faced, 
could not be puffed away with a breath of logic. They remained 
with their inexorable potency of mischief.^ If need there was, 

1 Writing to Richard Smith, editor of the Cincinnati Gazette, February 17, 
1877. Joseph Medill. editor of the Chicago Tribune, said : " But what shall be done 
in Louisiana and South Carolina? These are the crucial tests. If President Hayes 
undertakes to keep Packard in the Governor's chair there will be 'organized 
h— 1 all the time. lie will go around like a man with a thorn in his foot, without 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 39 

in the interest of peace and quiet and orderly government (sus- 
tained and approved by intelligent local opinion), and in defer- 
ence to proper interpretation of constitutional authority, for the 
President to incur misconception and charges of inconsistency 
from members of his own party, then, unquestionably, not only 
wise statesmanship, but a conscientious sense of duty required 
him to take the risk; to scorn the misjudgment and denuncia- 
tion that might immediately follow on his action and serenely 
to await the calm survey of the future to justify and approve 
his course. It is the weak man who had rather continue a wrong 
than be charged with inconsistency. It is foolish and futile 
statesmanship that permits itself to be bound hand and foot 
by the coils of unyielding logic, and so refuses to deal with 
conditions that have become unbearable by sensible compromise 
and practical accommodation. 

As a matter of fact, however, no charge of inconsistency could 
fairly lie against the President if he withdrew the federal troops 
from the precincts of the capitols of Louisiana and South Caro- 
lina and left those States to determine their disputes by their 
own agencies of government. The limits of the right of the 
Federal Government to use the army in state affairs are exactly 
defined by the Constitution — to preserve a republican form of 
government, to repel invasion, and, on proper appeal from state 
authority, to quell domestic insurrection that the State is unable 
to cope withal. Suppose the interpretation of these provisions 
of the Constitution had in recent years been stretched, however 
plausibly and sincerely, to cover a multitude of interferences 
in state affairs of questionable propriety; must these doubtful 

peace or freedom from pain until it is extracted. He will have to hold Packard up 
by bayonets and gunboats, and put down insurrections about once in ninety 
days; and we shall be expected to defend and justify such federal interference in 
behalf of an odious carpetbag desperado as the South regard him. . . . There 
is only one thing to do in the premises, namely, to drop Packard. ... So of 
Chamberlain; he should be retired from the gubernatorial chair, which he cannot 
hold a minute if the troops are removed. Chamberlain is a pretty good man for a 
carpetbagger, and while it would not create so much bitter discontent in the 
South to keep him in the Governor's chair by means of federal musketry, as it 
will Packard, still it would be vastly better if he would retire. We have tried for 
eight years to uphold negro rule in the South, officered by carpetbaggers, but 
without exception it has resulted in failure and almost ruin to party. Statesman- 
ship consists of making the best use of the means at command, and of producing 
popular contentment." 



40 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

precedents be forever followed? Was it not altogether wiser — 
and safer for our institutions — to hark back to the Constitu- 
tion itself and take fresh observations to direct our course? We 
could not forever treat the Southern States, or any of them, as 
special cases, not entitled to all the rights — the same rights — 
under the Constitution that all other States possessed. Now that 
they were restored to their proper practical relations within the 
Union, no policy should be exercised toward them that would 
not under similar circumstances be enforced toward Massa- 
chusetts or Ohio. 

Indeed, precisely the same principles of strict regard to the 
rights of the States to appoint Presidential electors in what way 
they chose, and to determine by their own machinery who were 
the electors appointed, which had been observed by the Elec- 
toral Commission, equally demanded that the States should be 
uncontrolled by federal authority in determining who were their 
chosen state officers. If any inconsistency appeared in these two 
determinations, what concern was that of the Federal Govern- 
ment? Unless a republican form of government was imperilled, 
or insurrection resulted which state authority could not sup- 
press and so asked federal aid, the Constitution did not justify 
the general Government in paying heed to a State's domestic 
disputes. In Florida, when the Supreme Court of the State had 
spoken, the Republican claimants to office subsided, under pro- 
test, and the transfer of authority to the Democrats was made 
without a ripple. In Louisiana and South Carolina it was per- 
fectly evident to all who took counsel, not of their wishes and 
their preconceptions, but of conditions and facts, that, except 
for the presence and activity of United States soldiers, the Re- 
publican claimants to the state offices would have made equally 
ineffectual protest, and the Democrats would have been in sole 
and peaceful possession of the State Governments.^ 

It all looks easy in the retrospect. But with indurated preju- 
dices to mollify; with partisan passion to allay; with personal 
hopes and ambitions to disappoint; with self-seeking party 

' " No intelligent man, who is politically sane and has watched the situation in 
the South, ca,n have any sort of doubt that the Packard and Chamberlain Gov- 
ernments would dissolve like the baseless fabric of a vision and vanish into thin 
air as soon as the federal authority should declare that it would no longer protect 
them." (New York Herald, March 16, 1877.) 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 41 

leaders and vociferous demagogues, eager to criticize and create 
obstacles, to deal with or guard against; with ardent friends and 
supporters giving diametrically opposing advice, the just and 
proper determination of the anomalous situation in Louisiana 
and South Carolina came before the new Administration as a 
problem of exceeding difficulty and complexity. It did not 
hesitate, however, to meet the problem, though it moved with 
deliberation and circumspection, as was proper in view of the 
perplexed state of public opinion and of the varied interests 
involved. Mr. Hayes recorded in his diary, March 14, a brief 
declaration which reveals the spirit in which he approached the 
solution of the problem : — 

My poHcy is trust, peace, and to put aside the bayonet. I do not 
think the wise poHcy is to decide contested elections in the States by the 
use of the national army. 

Already before this, Mr. Stanley Matthews, intimate and life- 
long friend of Mr. Hayes, and one of the counsel of the Republi- 
can party before the Electoral Commission (who, it will be re- 
called, had united with Charles Foster in writing the reassuring 
letter of February 27 to General Gordon and John Y. Brown), 
had been making efforts, on his own initiative, and without the 
knowledge of Mr. Hayes, to influence Packard and Chamberlain 
to relieve the situation by facing the inevitable and seeking some 
sort of friendly composition with their rivals. On February 27, 
in reply to a letter from Packard urging reasons why the Gov- 
ernment should give him recognition, Mr. Matthews had written 
Packard a frank statement of what he was particular to declare 
were his individual views. The gist of the letter was contained 
in these words : — 

Without reference to the rightfulness of the origin of your title of 
Governor, I am of opinion that circumstances are such that it will be 
out of the question for the Republican Administration to maintain it, 
as it must necessarily do, by force of federal arms. As soon as the exist- 
ing military orders are withdrawn, the NichoUs Government will become 
the only existing Government, and will have to be recognized then as 
such. In the meantime it will be the duty of the Administration to take 
care that the results shall not imperil the right and equity of the colored 
people of Louisiana, so far as it has lawful power to prevent it, and also 
to take care that stanch Republicans like yourself, against whom nothing 



42 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

disreputable can be alleged, should not suflFer, and should receive consid- 
eration and position in some appropriate way. 

Here, plainly, was nothing to flatter Packard's hopes, as that 
worthy gentleman was quick to perceive. For two weeks he 
maintained silence within his barricaded office, and then, when 
Mr. Matthews was a candidate before the Republican caucus 
of the Ohio Legislature for nomination as Senator to succeed 
John Sherman, he indited a reply which, with Mr. Matthews's 
letter, he gave immediately to the press. The reply was, briefly, 
a determined non possumus, declaring: — 

I judge the purpose of your letter to have been, in a friendly way, to 
accomplish the abandonment by me of the office of Governor, to the end 
that my defeated opponent might assume unquestioned the office to 
which I have been elected. Admitting the value of the opinion of one so 
learned, of so deservedly great influence in the councils of the nation, I 
am constrained by a high sense of duty to unqualifiedly decline to enter- 
tain any proposition to relinquish or to abandon the position which I 
hold. 

If the design of the publication of this correspondence at that 
particular moment was to injure Mr. Matthews's chances for 
the Senate, it failed. Equally ineffective was the clamor raised 
on account of his letter to Governor Chamberlain. That was 
written March 4. Senator Gordon, of Georgia, and Mr. Haskell, 
chairman of the South Carolina Democratic State Committee, 
had asked Mr. Matthews to intercede with President Hayes to 
withdraw the troops from the State House at Columbia. Mr. 
Matthews suggested to them that a better way possibly out of 
the tangle would be to induce Governor Chamberlain to seek 
an understanding with Hampton, even at the sacrifice, if need be, 
of his own personal interests. At their request he consented to 
embody his suggestion in a letter to Governor Chamberlain, 
being careful, however, to make it clear that he was acting solely 
on his own responsibility. Mr. Evarts also was consulted, and 
he appended to what Mr. Matthews had written a few lines of 
friendly but non-committal endorsement. The letter was en- 
trusted to Mr. Haskell, who hastened to Columbia and March 6 
laid it before Governor Chamberlain. The latter was evidently 
offended at receiving the communication from the hands of the 
Democratic State Chairman and he was in no mood to consider 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 43 

compromise. He at once sent the following dispatch to Senator- 
elect Corbin at Washington : — 

Columbia, S.C, March 6, 1877. 
The Hon. D. T. Corbin, — I have just had a long interview with 
Haskell, who brings letters to me from Stanley Matthews and Mr. 
Evarts. The purport of Mr. Matthews's letter is that I ought to yield 
my rights for the good of the country. This is embarrassing beyond 
endurance. If such action is desired I want to know it authoritatively. 
I am not acting for myself, and I cannot assume such responsibility. 
Please inquire and telegraph me to-night, 

D. H. Chamberlain. 

Mr. Corbin promptly gave the dispatch to Mr. Blaine, glow- 
ing with pleasure at the thought of the sensation he had a few 
hours before created in the Senate; and this dispatch Mr. Blaine 
introduced with dramatic effect in his further attack of March 7, 
already referred to, although he knew at the time that the letters 
had not been authorized by the President. Looking directly at 
Mr. Sherman, he demanded to know who would stand sponsor 
for such letters. For two or three days, about Washington and 
in the press, there was a buzz of criticism of Mr. Matthews's 
superserviceable attempt to relieve the Administration of the 
South Carolina complication. Then, on March 11, the letters 
were published, as follows : — 

Washington City, March 4, 1877. 
Hon. D. H. Chamberlain, Columbia, S.C: — 

My dear Sir, — I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance 
with you, but have learned to respect you from my knowledge of your 
reputation. I take the liberty of addressing you now, with great distrust 
of the propriety of doing so, prefacing it by saying that I speak without 
authority from any one, and represent only my own views. The situation 
of public affairs in South Carolina is too complicated to be discussed at 
length in a note, and yet impresses me as one that ought to be changed 
by the policy of Republican statesmen in such a way as not only to 
remove all the controversies that disturb that State, but to remove 
all embarrassments arising from it to the party in other parts of the 
country. 

It has occurred to me to suggest whether, by your own concurrence 
and cooperation, an accommodation could not be arrived at which would 
obviate the necessity for the use of federal arms to support either gov- 
ernment, and leave that to stand which was best able to stand of itself. 
Such a course would relieve the Administration from the necessity, so 
far as executive action is concerned, of making any decision between the 



44 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

conflicting governments and would place you in a position of making the 
sacrifice of what you deemed your abstract rights, for the sake of the 
peace of the community, which would entitle you to the gratitude, not 
only of your own party, but the respect and esteem of the entire country. 

I trust you will pardon the liberty I have taken, as my motive is to 
promote not only the public but your personal good. 

With great respect, 

Stanley Matthews. 

[Mr. Evarts's endorsement.] 
Dear Governor, — I have read this letter and conversed with Colo- 
nel Haskell and Senator Gordon on this subject so interesting to us 
all. I should be very glad to aid in a solution of the diflBculties of the 
situation and especially to hear from you speedily. 
With my compliments to Mrs. Chamberlain, yours very truly, 

William M. Evarts. 

It was seen at once that there was nothing here that any 
patriotic and public-spirited man might not have written, and 
that there was no ground for condemning the writers.^ In any 
event, the letters did not compromise the President nor in the 
least embarrass him. And the Republicans of Ohio were evi- 
dently not displeased with Mr. Matthews's course, for March 15 
they gave him the caucus nomination for Senator. ^ This action 
was most gratifying to the President, who wrote in his diary 
(March 16) : — 

This is an endorsement of the policy of peace and home rule — of 
local self-government. A number of Southern Eepublican Members are 
reported ready to go over to the Democrats. On the other hand, the bar 
of this District are in a state of mind because Fred Douglass, the most 
distinguished colored man in the nation, has been nominated Marshal 
of the District. If a liberal policy toward late Rebels is adopted, the 
ultra Republicans are opposed to it; if the colored people are honored, 

^ "The letters from Stanley Matthews and Mr. Evarts to Governor Chamber- 
lain do not seem to justify the excitement under which Mr. Chamberlain tele- 
graphed to Washington for an explanation. In the first place, Messrs. Matthews 
and Evarts wrote on their own responsibility, and offered their advice in a modest 
and friendly spirit, showing no di.sposition to dictate, but venturing only a rather 
vague suggestion. In the second place, the advice — if we can call it by such a 
positive term — was good." (New York Tribune, editorial, March 13.) 

'^ Mr. Garfield was at first an active candidate for the succession to Mr. Sher- 
man's seat. But on the advice of Mr. Hayes, who urged that his services were 
much more needed and would be much more valuable as leader of his party in the 
House, Mr. Garfield withdrew from the contest. Captious newspapers criticized 
Mr. Hayes severely for interfering with his perfectly proper counsel. 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 45 

the extremists of the other wing cry out against it. I suspect I am right 
in both cases. 

Different plans for Louisiana and South Carolina are offered: 1. A 
new election. 2. Lawful action of Legislatures. 3. Acknowledge Pack- 
ard and Chamberlain, and leave them to their own state remedies. 4. 
Withdraw troops and leave events to take care of themselves. 

Here I am too crowded with business to give thought to these ques- 
tions. Let me get a few outside opinions. Judge Dickson. 

But already he had given much thought to the whole subject, 
as his letter of acceptance, his inaugural address, and the many 
expressions in his letters and interviews abundantly testify. He 
had no doubts as to the end to be attained ; it was only the precise 
method of attaining that end about which he was undecided; 
and, despite the protestation just quoted, it is clear that, with 
all the multifarious cares and duties that were demanding his 
attention and requiring instant decision, " these questions" were 
constantly upon his mind; and were at once made the subject 
of Cabinet discussion. March 20, Mr. Hayes writes: — 

Cabinet meeting at 10 a.m.; all present. . . . Louisiana troubles dis- 
cussed. All but Devens seem indisposed to use force to uphold Packard's 
Government, and he is not decidedly for it. All finally agreed to send a 
commission to Louisiana. . . . Mr. Evarts is of opinion that the military 
can't be used to sustain one government against another in case of con- 
tested elections. The States must take care of these matters themselves. 

I incline to think that the people will not now sustain the policy of 
upholding a State Government against a rival government by the use 
of the forces of the United States. If this leads to the overthrow of 
the de jure Government in a State, the de facto Government must be 
recognized. 

And the next day: — 

Cabinet meeting full. . . . Talked over commission to Louisiana. 
Decided to send Wheeler, Brown, Hoar, Harlan, and Lamar. If Wheeler 
fails, then President Woolsey vice Judge Davis. Davis was preferred, 
but he declined. He advised the commission; thought it would do 
good. 

Two days later: — 

It is not the duty of the President of the United States to use the 
military power of the nation to decide contested elections in the States. 
He will maintain the authority of the United States and keep the peace 
between the contending parties. But local self-government means the 
determination by each State for itself of all questions as to its own local 



46 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

affairs. The real thing to be achieved is safety and prosperity for the 
colored people. Both houses of Congress and the public opinion of the 
country are plainly against the use of the army to uphold either claim- 
ant to the State Government in case of contest. The wish is to restore 
harmony and good feeling between sections and races. This can only be 
done by peaceful methods. We wish to adjust the difficulties in Louisi- 
ana 'and South Carolina so as to make one government out of two in 
each State. But if this fails — if no adjustment can be made — we 
must then adopt the non-intervention policy, except so far as may be 
necessary to keep the peace. 

Thus in these few days the President, with all the other things 
that occupied his attention, had thought himself clear on the 
essential elements of the problem and had come to a definite 
and decided conclusion in regard to the limits of his authority 
in the premises and the course that he should pursue. Mr. 
Hayes was always deliberate in making up his mind when a 
question of large importance came before him for decision, both 
because he wished to be fully informed of all the pertinent facts 
relating thereto, and because he wished thoroughly to go over in 
his mind the probable consequences involved in any decision 
and to satisfy himself of its wisdom and justice. But once his 
understanding and reflection had brought him to a determinate 
judgment in any case, he was prepared to maintain his position 
with resolute courage and to execute his purpose without hesita- 
tion or wavering. In reaching his conclusion in this instance Mr. 
Hayes had not only had the counsel of his Cabinet, but he had 
listened patiently to delegations of prominent men from Louis- 
iana and South Carolina, who had pressed upon him informa- 
tion, argument, and appeal in behalf of one or the other of the 
rival claimants to authority in each of the disturbed Common- 
wealths.^ 

^ Mr. Hayes was much impressed in considering the Louisiana situation by 
the following letter : — 

New Orleans, La., 

March 24. 
Hon. R. B. Hayes, President. 

Honored and dear Sir, — I have been in New Orleans for the past week, and 
knowing how difficult it is to get at the truth of things, have thought it may be of 
use to tell you my impressions. As I am quite well acquainted here and mix freely 
with all classes, and as I am under no suspicion of interested motives or of having 
an "official duty" to discharge, my opportunities for learning the real feeling of 
the community have been reasonably good, although I claim no special skill of 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 47 

The announcement of the decision to dispatch a commission 
to Louisiana was made to the pubhc on March 21, It was re- 
ceived with varying emotions. Those who had hoped for an 

interpretation. If you should attach sufficient importance to it to inquire who I 
am, you can do so from Hon. Carl Schurz or General Sherman. 

The result in my mind is that, whatever abstract justice may seem to demand 
under a strict construction of the Fifteenth Amendment, the recognition of Pack- 
ard involves the 'present and continued maintenance of his authority by United 
States military forces. Upon this point there is no difference of opinion here. As 
to its being a quiet, though enforced, maintenance, people differ. My own opin- 
ion is that there would be frequent strife, an increase of bitter feeling, in short, a 
continuance of suppressed rebellion ready to break out at a moment's notice, and 
on slight provocation, in every part of the State. It must be a strong and visible 
rule of evident and recognized power, at the best. Nothing less will do. The white 
population of the city and State is almost unanimous in refusal to submit to the 
"Packard Control" except at the point of the bayonet. Under Mr. Packard the 
Government at Washington would be the Government of Louisiana, except that 
the details would be administered by incompetent, timid, and half-educated men. 
I was yesterday in the Republican Legislature, both House and Senate, and also 
in Mr. Packard's parlor, and although I am and always have been a " Republican" 
and in every way on the Freedom side, I must frankly say that I should not be 
willing to trust my interests to the influences and men which there control. A 
large majority of the Legislature is composed of colored people, who are certainly 
not above the average of respectable negroes in our cities, and the white members, 
if I may judge by appearance and manners, are a very second-rate sort of men. 
Any one individual of decided ability and fair parliamentary training could easily 
control the whole Assembly. I cannot wonder at the vmwillingness of property- 
holders and educated people to be under the rule of such bodies of men, even if 
legally elected; but add to this the universal conviction here that the majority 
of them were not so elected, and the obstinacy of resistance is the natiu-al and 
unavoidable result. 

2. If the "troops" are withdrawn without a distinct recognition of either 
party, the Packard Government will be compelled quickly to give way. I doubt 
if it could continue a week; many think not an hour. The moderate and most 
intelligent conservatives say that no attack would be made and no compulsion 
used, and the leaders would honestly try to prevent it; but the young men and 
lower classes would be with difficulty restrained, and the fear excited would be 
such that no legislative or other body would dare to meet. I find the women, both 
mothers and wives, much more outspoken and bitter than the men, and the whole 
social influence in all circles, especially the highest (and including the religious), 
is in favor of strong and summary measures. At all events, in one way or the 
other the Packard party would soon subside, with or without protest, having no 
inherent strength, if left without external support. The Nicholls Government 
would then exist de facto if not de jure, and would soon of necessity be the rec- 
ognized Government of the State. Whether or not it is possible distinctly to 
"recognize" Nicholls, I do not pretend to decide. If the question could have 
been divided at the election, so as to get the real sentiments of the people, it is 
not improbable that the Republican electoral ticket, and the state Democratic, 
would have prevailed. I find almost no opposition to the national ticket at 
present, but, on the contrary, a prevailing contentment, which might easily be 



48 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

immediate withdrawal of the troops were disappointed, and 
were fearful lest the commission plan indicated a shunning of 
responsibility by the President or a weakening of the purpose 

converted into enthusiastic support. Certainly, taking things as they are, the 
question is clearly divisible, in equity at least, for in their local affairs the great- 
est possible latitude of choice should be allowed, and those who hold the chief 
interests of the State should be permitted to control them. 

3. Under Democratic rule it is not probable, I fear, that the spirit of the Fif- 
teenth Amendment will be kept, and scarcely the letter of it, for some years to 
come. Things will settle down to about the same level as in Mississippi and Ala- 
bama, and when the blacks are in the majority or approximating it, they will be 
"discouraged" from voting, with whatever degree of moral or physical force may 
be necessary to secure the end. They will be entirely free to vote the Democratic 
ticket and beyond that will have freedom with penalty, if at all. But gradually 
that will improve, as the colored people advance in thrift and intelligence, as new 
social and political issues arise, and as the educational interests of the South are 
better regarded. In the last element the only sure hope for the future is found, 
and if an education test or qualification for voting could be secured by amend- 
ment of the Constitution, we might reasonably hope for enduring peace. 

Such results will be slow and not quite satisfactory, but in no other direction is 
the outlook equally good. I was in New Orleans (in charge of a congregation) 
part of the two winters immediately succeeding the war, and am sorry to say 
that nothing has been gained since that time. Both the color line and the 'party 
line are more marked; political and social animosity is plainly increased. A whole 
generation of young people has grown up, deeply imbued with a sense of injustice 
suffered and wrongs endured, so that nothing but the hopelessness of resistance 
prevents an outbreak. The continuance of such a condition of things is neither 
safe nor wise, even if practicable. From good authority I can state that ten thou- 
sand armed militia (no longer called White League) in New Orleans, and thirty- 
five thousand in the other parishes, are ready at a moment's notice. They are well 
and carefully drilled, ably officered, and held under constraint by strict military 
discipline. They are willing to serve at their own costs, if possible, and, when 
needed, voluntary supplies of monej' come in. Such an organization of men, with 
the belief that their cause is just, cannot be regarded with indifference, scarcely 
without fear, particularly when we remember that the whole South is in hearty 
sympathy with them. I am very sure that some method must be found of concili- 
ation, — without sacrifice of the national dignity, — and I believe that the hard- 
ships consequent to the colored people, even if great, will be far less than in a 
continuance of the past policy of government ab extra, which will soon be nothing 
else than a social war of races, in which the weaker must surely be crushed. Few 
men have worked harder for the Union cause or for the colored race, both slaves 
and freedmen, than I have, in my humble way; but I would not shrink from the 
responsibility of the new policy, if it were mine to take, and with it whatever 
blame might come, of which I know there would be a vast deal. "He serves his 
party best who serves his country best," and the moral courage of moderation is 
often greater than that of force. 

I trust you will pardon me, Mr. President, for this intrusion. My letter was 
begun in New Orleans, and I have written much of it in the railroad cars on my 
way home, where I arrived a few hours ago; it has therefore been written hastily, 
perhaps badly, but the opinions expressed have been deliberately formed, after 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 49 

of conciliatory action foreshadowed by his public utterances. 
Conservative men and journals, however, recognizing the enor- 
mous difficulties of the situation, as well as the necessity of win- 
ning the support of intelligent public opinion for the action 
finally taken, welcomed the commission plan as a wise prelimi- 
nary step. 

It was some days before the personnel of the commission was 
finally settled, as Vice-President Wheeler and certain of the 
other men, first thought of for members, preferred for one reason 
or another not to serve. Meanwhile the South Carolina case 
was taken up. This bristled with fewer difficulties than that 
of Louisiana, inasmuch as South Carolina did not present the 
spectacle of dual Supreme Courts. It was perfectly apparent 
that all the conservative and intelligent forces of society were 
behind Hampton,^ who was shown to be elected by a canvass 
of the same votes that gave a majority to the Hayes electors. 
Moreover, he was supported by the courts and the civil officers 
of the State; and every one knew that he had only to say the 
word and volunteer militia would hasten to sustain and defend 
his authority; while Chamberlain could not command a cor- 
poral's guard, and had no hope that his Government could be 
established or maintained except by the continuous employ- 
ment of federal troops to protect him and enforce his authority, 
Mr. Hayes could see no need of sending a commission to South 
Carolina. Instead of this device, he prepared the way for the 
action he was now fully determined to take, by inviting both 
Chamberlain and Hampton to come to Washington for a personal 

careful examination of facts and in opposition to my antecedent wishes. I feel 
sure that they are substantially correct and that time will verify them. 

Earnestly praying for the complete and perfect success of your Administration, 
and feeling confident of it, 

I have the honor to remain 

Your Friend and Servant, 

W. G. Eliot. 
St. Louis, March 26, 1877. 

^ "The South Carolina controversy has almost settled itself. All that remains 
of it is merely a contest for the possession of the rooms in the State House, and 
of the books and records kept in them. The Chamberlain officials occupy these 
rooms under the protection of the federal soldiers, but they exercise no other 
functions of office whatever." (Columbia correspondence New York Tribune, 
March 29, 1877.) 



50 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

conference with him.^ He would thus obtain directly the fullest 
possible authoritative information of the state of the contro- 
versy, and of the pretensions and purposes of the two con- 
testants; he could present his own views, and he could demand 
assurances against the possibility of riotous action or warlike 
demonstration. The two men promptly signified their accept- 
ance of the President's invitation, ^ though there were extreme 
partisans of each ready to advise them to refuse the courteous 
summons. 

^ The invitation was dated March 23, and was written, under direction, by the 
President's private secretary. It declared to the two men the President's "pur- 
pose to take into immediate consideration the position of affairs in South Caro- 
lina with a view of determining the course" which his duty might require him to 
take. He desired, therefore, a personal conference, as he thought that " the readi- 
est and best mode" of obtaining their "views as to the political condition" of the 
State. If they could not come to Washington, he would "be glad to receive any 
communication from you in writing, or through any delegate possessing your 
confidence that will convey to him your views of the impediments to the peaceful 
and orderly organization of a single and undisputed State Government in South 
Carolina, and of the best methods of removing them." The invitation ended with 
this paragraph: — 

" It is the earnest desire of the President to be able to put an end as speedily as 
possible to all appearance of intervention of the military authority of the United 
States in the political derangements which affect the Government and aflSict the 
people of South Carolina. In this desire the President cannot doubt he truly rep- 
resents the patriotic feeling of the great body of the people of the United States. 
It is impossible that the protracted disorder in the domestic government of any 
State can or should ever fail to be a matter of lively interest and solicitude to 
the people of the whole country. In furtherance of the prompt and safe execution 
of this general purpose he invites a full communication of your opinions on the 
whole subject in such one of the proposed forms as may seem to you most useful." 

^ Mr. Chamberlain telegraphed that he would start for Washington as soon 
as the letter of invitation was received. General Hampton awaited the receipt of 
the letter, and then, March 26, wrote his acceptance of the invitation " through 
motives of proper courtesy," though he could "not hope to throw additional 
light on the questions" at issue. But he added, in rather questionable taste: — 

" I shall avail myself of your invitation, so that I may reiterate in person what 
I have the honor to submit in writing: That in my judgment all impediments to 
the objects so earnestly desired by your.self and so anxiously expected by the peo- 
ple of this State can at once be removed by the withdrawal of the federal troops 
from the State House. . . . [That done], whatever grievances exist, whatever 
wrongs we suffer, we propose to redress them, not by a resort to force, but by 
legal and constitutional agencies. In seeking such redress I feel sure that I repre- 
sent fully the determination of the thoughtful and conservative portion of our 
people when I give the assurance that no proscription shall be exerci.sed here on 
account of political opinions; that no discrimination shall be made in the adminis- 
tration of justice; and that all citizens of bf)th parties, and both parties and both 
races, shall be regarded as fully protected by and amenable to the laws." 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 51 

Mr. Chamberlain reached Washington March 27 and Gen- 
eral Hampton two days later. At Wilmington, North Carolina, 
'and at Richmond great throngs of people met the latter's train 
and addresses of greeting and encouragement were made to him. 
On both occasions he replied, declaring that all he was going to 
Washington to ask was that the federal troops be withdrawn 
from the State House and that the government of South Caro- 
lina be left to the men that were strong enough to maintain it. 
At his hotel in Washington he was constantly besieged by men 
eager to show him attention.^ Prolonged conferences were had 
between the President and each of the rival Governors, in which 
every phase of the dispute, together with the social and political 
conditions and the state of public sentiment in South Carolina, 
was thoroughly canvassed. Members of the Cabinet also had 
opportunity to discuss the situation with the two Governors. 
Despite the eloquence and insistence with which Mr. Chamber- 
lain pleaded his cause and urged continuance of federal protec- 
tion, he must soon have felt in the very atmosphere of Washing- 
ton that he was fighting a losing game; that the epoch in which 
he had played so conspicuous and on the whole so creditable a 
part was drawing rapidly to a close. On March 30 he submitted 
to the President a plan for a commission to recanvass the votes, 
which was quite impracticable, as it would have been without 
legal sanction. The following day the Cabinet considered the 
whole situation, and, at the close of the meeting, the President 
announced that orders for the removal of the troops from the 
State House at Columbia would be given to take effect as soon 
as Messrs. Chamberlain and Hampton had returned to that 
city. 2 The announcement was received with great jubilation by 
the friends of Hampton, with bitter reproaches by the implac- 
able radicals, and with a deep sense of satisfaction and relief by 

^ "Governor Hampton has been made a lion in every place since he set foot in 
the Capital. Early this morning the corridors of Willard's Hotel were crowded 
with people anxious to get a peep at him. Cards by the hundred were sent to his 
room, though not one in ten of them was he able to answer." (Washington cor- 
respondence New York Tribune, March 30.) 

^ "The point of the President's determination is not that Hampton has the 
better claim to the office; his decision is merely that it is not his place to decide. 
South Carolina must arrange this matter for herself. . . . The troops are to be 
removed only because they have no business in their present position." (New 
York Tribune, editorial, April 3, 1877.) 



52 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the better public opinion of the country. At last — at last, the 
end of "reconstruction," with all its temporary and temporizing 
expedients, with all its doubtful straining of federal authority, 
with all its interferences in local affairs by the Government at 
Washington, — necessary or justifiable though these may have 
been, — was now in sight. Hereafter every State, however much 
it might have sinned in the past, was to be, so far as the National 
Government was concerned, the exact equal in all rights and 
immunities of every other State — unrestricted and uncon- 
trolled, within constitutional limits, to work out its own destiny 
for weal or for woe. 

Mr. Chamberlain yielded to the inevitable, after addressing 
on March 31 to the President a vigorous defense of his claims 
and an almost pathetic plea for a continuance of federal support. 
But his very defense revealed the helplessness of his situation. 
Any thought of sustaining himself by reliance on his own fol- 
lowers and supporters in the State he declared would be "mad- 
ness." If the President and his Cabinet had needed any further 
evidence that South Carolina was able — as it had the absolute 
right — to settle its own dispute peaceably, this was supplied 
by Mr. Chamberlain's communication. 

The President's decision became effective by the delivery of 

the following letter: — 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, D.C, April 3, 1877. 

Sir : Prior to my entering upon the duties of the Presidency there 
had been stationed by order of my predecessor in the State House at 
Columbia, South Carolina, a detachment of United States infantry. 
Finding them in that place, I have thought proper to delay a decision 
of tiie question of their removal until I could consider and determine 
whether the condition of affairs in that State is now such as either to 
require or justify the continued military occupation of the State House. 

In my opinion there does not now exist in that State such domestic 
violence as is contemplated by the Constitution as the ground upon 
which the military power of the National Government may be invoked 
for the defense of the State. There are, it is true, grave and serious dis- 
putes as to the rights of certain claimants to the chief executive office of 
that State. But these are to be settled and determined, not by the Execu- 
tive of tlie United States, but by such orderly and peaceable methods as 
may be provided by the constitution and laws of the State. I feel as- 
sured that no resort to violence is contemplated in any quarter, but that, 
on the contrary, the disputes in question are to be settled solely by such 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 53 

peaceful remedies as the constitution and laws of the State provide. 
Under these circumstances, in this confidence, I now deem it proper to 
take action in accordance with the principles announced when I entered 
upon the duties of the Presidency. 

You are, therefore, directed to see that the proper orders are issued 
for the removal of said troops from the State House to their previous 
place of encampment. 

R. B. Hayes. 

To Hon. George W. McCbaht, 
Secretary of War. 

In accordance with this direction the proper orders were given 
for the withdrawal of the soldiers from the State House at noon 
on Tuesday, April 10. On that date the troops withdrew to their 
barracks, and Mr. Chamberlain quietly surrendered his office 
to Governor Hampton. The day passed without any sort of 
demonstration. Mr. Chamberlain, however, signalized the occa- 
sion by issuing an address to the Republicans of South Caro- 
lina, in which, with perhaps pardonable asperity in view of his 
personal disappointment, he reasserted the righteousness of his 
claims and argued the injustice of the refusal of further national 
protection; but he recognized the futility of resistance and de- 
clared that he would "no longer actively assert his right to the 
office of Governor." He assured his fellow partisans, who were 
so deeply wronged, as he thought, by the President's action, 
that "the motives and purposes of the President in his policy 
were unquestionably honorable and patriotic"; and he "de- 
voutly prayed that events might vindicate the wisdom of his 
action." 

Within a few days all the state offices were in the possession 
of the Democrats, the Legislature was called in special session, 
a reconciliation of the dual bodies was effected, and "events" 
of peace and quiet and industry, under orderly government, 
honest administration, and courts worthy of respect, began 
rapidly to bring about that vindication of the President's action 
for which Mr. Chamberlain had devoutly prayed.^ 

^ Twenty-four years later, in a calm historic review of "Reconstruction in 
South Carolina" (Atlantic Monthly, April, 1901), Governor Chamberlain wrote: 
"The overthrow of Republicanism or negro rule in South Carolina was root-and- 
branch work. The fabric so long and laboriously built up fell in a day. Where was 
fancied to be strength was found only weakness. The vauntings were turned to 
cringings of terror. Poltroons and perjurers made haste to confess; robbers came 



54 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The tranquil climax of the South Carolina adjustment was 
a subject of profound satisfaction and of much felicitation to the 
President. It made the way easier for the commission which by 
this time was seeking to bring order out of chaos in Louisiana. 
The commission was composed of Judge Charles B. Lawrence, 
of Illinois, General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, General 
John M. Harlan, of Kentucky, ex-Governor John C. Brown, 
of Tennessee, and Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania. These 
men represented all parties, and their high character and popu- 
lar esteem were a guaranty alike of the conscientiousness and 
sobriety of judgment with which they would enter on their 
duties, and of public confidence in the wisdom and equity of any 
determination in which they should agree. The task before them 
was precisely defined in a letter of instructions, written, at the 
President's request, by Secretary Evarts. 

The President, they were told, found the situation of affairs 
in Louisiana such as to demand his prompt and solicitous at- 
tention, inasmuch as one feature of it was "the apparent inter- 
vention of the military power of the United States in the domes- 
tic controversies" of the State; intervention brought about 
under his predecessor. The only duty of the President now was 
to determine the extent and effect of this intervention and to 
decide when and how to end it. It was not desired that the 
( commission should examine into or report upon the facts of the 

forward to disgorge, intent only on personal safety; and the world saw an old phe- 
nomenon repeated, — the essential and ineradicable cowardice and servility of 
conscious wrong-doers. The avalanche caught the innocent with the guilty, the 
patriot and reformer with the corruptionist, the bribe-giver and bribe-taker. It 
could not be otherwise; it has never been otherwise in such convulsions. ... If 
there is any interest .still attaching to the writer's own view, he is quite ready now 
to say that he feels sure there was no possibility of securing permanent good gov- 
ernment in South Carolina through Republican influences. If the canvass of 1876 
had resulted in the success of the Republican party, that party could not, for 
want of materials, even when aided by the Democratic minority, have given pure 
or competent administration. The vast preponderance of ignorance and incapac- 
ity in that party, aside from downright dishonesty, made it impossible. . . . How 
did the victors use their victory? The just answer seems to be, 'Not altogether 
well,' but emphatically, 'As well as could have been expected,' — as well as the 
lot and nature of humanity probably permit. Some unfair, unjust, merely angry 
blows were struck after the victory was won. For the rest, forbearance and obliv- 
ion were the rule. Good government, the avowed aim, was fully secured. Econ- 
omy succeeded extravagance; judicial integrity and ability succeeded profligacy 
and ignorance on the bench; all the conditions of public welfare were restored." 




JOHN M. HARLAN WAYNE MACVEAGH 

CHARLES B. LAWRENCE 



JAMES E. HAWLEY 



JOHN C. BItOWN 



THE LOUISIANA COMMISSION 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 55 

recent state election or of the canvass of the votes. The reports 
of the committees of the two houses of Congress had covered 
that ground. What the President desired to know, in order to 
decide on his executive duty in the premises, was what were 
"the real impediments to regular, legal, and peaceful procedure 
under the laws and constitution of the State of Louisiana by 
which the anomalies of government there presented may be put 
in course of settlement without involving the element of mili- 
tary power as either an agent or a make-weight in such settle- 
ment." The unusual circumstances attending and following the 
state election and canvass may have delayed the assuagement 
of the feelings engendered by a close and zealous political con- 
test. But the President hoped that the mass of the people of the 
State were "now prepared to treat the unsettled results of their 
state election with a calm and conciliatory spirit." 

It was the President's wish that the commission should strive 
first to remove "the obstacles to an acknowledgment of one 
Government." If this proved impossible, endeavor should be 
made "to accomplish the recognition of a single Legislature as 
the depositary of the representative will of the people of Louis- 
iana." The Legislature "rescued from dispute, the rest of the 
problem could gradually be worked out by the prevalent au- 
thority which the legislative power, when undisputed, is quite 
competent to exert in composing conflict in the coordinate 
branches of the Government." 

The President was satisfied by attentive consideration of the 
Constitution and the acts of Congress that military interven- 
tion, "in determining or influencing disputed elections in a 
State, is most carefully to be avoided." Of course, as Mr. 
Evarts continued : — 

A case wherein every department of the State Government has a dis- 
puted representation, and the State, therefore, furnishes to the Federal 
Government no internal political recognition of authority upon which 
the Federal Executive can rely, will present a case of so much difficulty 
that it is of pressing importance to all interests in Louisiana that it 
should be avoided. A single Legislature would greatly relieve this diffi- 
culty, for that department of the State Government is named by the 
Constitution as the necessary applicant, when it can be convened, for 
military intervention by the United States. If, therefore, the disputing 
interests can concur in or be reduced to a single Legislature for the 



56 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

State of Louisiana, it would be a great step in composing this unhappy 
strife. . . . 

A second and less important subject of attention during your visit to 
New Orleans will be the collection of accurate and trustworthy informa- 
tion from the public oflBcers and prominent citizens of all political con- 
nections as to the state of public feeling and opinion in the community at 
large uj)on the general questions w hich affect the peaceful and safe exer- 
cise, within the State of Louisiana, of all legal and political rights, and 
the protection of all legal and political privileges conferred by the Con- 
stitution of the United States upon all citizens. The maintenance and 
protection of these rights and privileges, by all constitutional means, 
and by every just, moral, and social influence, are the settled purpose of 
the President in his administration of the Government. He will hope to 
learn from your investigations that this purpose will be aided and not 
resisted by the substantial and effective public opinion of the great body 
of the people of Louisiana. . . . 

The whole tenor and spirit of this letter are so reasonable and 
conciliatory and the suggested method of adjustment so simple 
and practical that it impressed the patriotic sense of the coun- 
try with the propriety of the President's course. Packard, how- 
ever, at once addressed a long letter to the President begging 
him to modify the instructions so as to direct the commission 
to determine which Government was legal and entitled to recog- 
nition; which judiciary was legal, and whether domestic vio- 
lence and insurrection within the meaning of the Constitution 
prevailed. But the President's mind was so firmly convinced of 
the wisdom of the course already decided on that he refused to 
amplify or to change his instruction.^ 

Meanwhile the President received a petition from New Or- 
leans, signed by hundreds of the leading citizens, — bishops, 
pastors, lawyers, physicians, bankers, heads of insurance, man- 
ufacturing, and business companies, and the like, — praying 
for the immediate withdrawal of military support from the 
Packard Government. 

We call your attention [the petitioners declared] to the fact, that there 
is no other Government in the State but that of which Mr. Nicholls is 
the executive. The attempt ... to disturb the peace of the State by 
forcing upon it the so-called Packard Government would bring about 
anarchy and civil commotion which would continue as long as federal 

' Packard wrote the President a second letter, of similar purport, a few days 
later, but to no effect. 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 57 

interference was persisted in. The pretense to existence on the part of 
that Government comes only from the support aflForded by the forces of 
the general Government. The troops withdrawTi to their quarters, it 
would disappear from the only building where its authority or even its 
existence is recognized. . . . We are not politicians. We have no favors 
to ask of any man. We have no offices to seek. We hope and believe 
that the President of the United States will recognize without further 
delay the right of American citizens to self-government, loyally exer- 
cised under the law and Constitution. ... If local self-government is 
given us, we pledge ourselves for the loyalty of Louisiana to the Union, 
for the protection of life and property and civU rights of all her citizens, 
and for the equal benefit of her laws, without distinction of race, color, 
or previous condition. 

The arrival of the commission in New Orleans was awaited 
with mingled hopes and misgivings by the partisans of both 
Governments. Both sides made the amplest preparations to 
present in the most persuasive manner the facts and arguments 
on which they relied to support their claims. Undoubtedly the 
Nicholls supporters were the more confident that their cause 
would be successful, especially after the do'WTifall of Chamber- 
lain. So many and various were the conflicting views and ambi- 
tions which the long dispute had engendered that the possibility 
of attaining a common ground between the contestants seemed 
almost hopeless. Packard, who was in a state of virtual siege in 
the old St. Louis Hotel, now used as a State House, beyond the 
four walls of which he was unable anywhere in the State to make 
his authority respected, stood stubbornly on his asserted legal 
rights.^ Nicholls and his Legislature insisted not only on their 
rights, which, by their interpretation of the constitution and 
law, were valid, but also on the fact that they were actually 
exercising all the powers of government, with the acquiescence, 
approval, and voluntary support of the great body of the in- 
telligent and taxpaying classes.^ 

^ Packard made a futile effort to enlist a militia force. His recruiting agents 
were promptly arrested by the Nicholls police. 

* "The situation is as follows: The rival Legislatures are both in session pass- 
ing laws. Packard holds possession of the State House with five hundred met- 
ropolitan police armed with muskets. The United States troops are quartered 
in the adjoining building. Packard's authoritj' is limited to the jurisdiction of 
the State House and the four streets surrounding it. Within this territory his 
guards are not molested by Nicholls's forces. All the rest of the city is under the 
municipal authority which has recognized Nicholls. In the State, out of eighteen 



\ 



68 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

On the very day that the commission arrived in New Orleans, 
April 6, a mass meeting of citizens, numbering several thousand, 
was held. It adopted a series of resolutions, expressive of the 
sentiment, the hopes, and the determination of the intelligent 
classes of the State, couched in dignified but earnest phraseology. 
Absolute loyalty and patriotic purpose were declared, while the 
right of local self-government, "deprived of which a State ceases 
to exist as such in a constitutional sense," was insisted on. 
Belief in the legitimacy of the Nicholls Government was af- 
firmed as against the "pretended Government" of Packard, 
which had not "a single title to respect and confidence," and 
which, except for "federal interference, would disband without 
the uplifting of an arm," The sentiments of the President's 
inaugural address had brought cheer and hope, and despite the 
disappointing delay of action, the people of Louisiana, appre- 
ciating the difficulties of his position, had "confidence in the 
sincerity of his declarations." They welcomed "the eminent 
gentlemen" of the commission and would afford them "every 
facility in their labors"; but they were "opposed to any com- 
promise, the effect of which would be ... to impair the exist- 
ing autonomy of the Nicholls Government." They were glad 
of the presence of United States soldiers when engaged in "law- 
ful and patriotic duties"; and now they asked "nothing of the 
President but to withdraw them from the upholding of a pre- 
tended government, and the performance of his plain constitu- 
tional duty of non-interference except in case of domestic in- 
surrection," which did not then exist and which they pledged 
themselves should not exist in the State of Louisiana. Finally, 
"with a deep sense of responsibility, with a full recognition of 
all our [their] obligations as citizens of the Union, in no spirit 
of threatening or braggadocio, with a profound consciousness 
of the power of the Federal Government and of our [their] 

district judges, thirteen have recognized Nicholls. The other five are on the 
fence. All the county officers of forty-three parishes, Republican and Demo- 
cratic, have recognized Nicholls also. In five, half recognized Packard and the 
other half Nicholls. In the nine remaining parishes the officers elected in No- 
vember have not qualified. Two hundrefl and forty colored men elected to vari- 
ous offices throughoiit the State last fall are said by Nicholls to have qualified 
by filing oaths with his Secretary of State. Among NichoUs's appointees, twenty- 
one are colored men." (New York Tribune, dispatch from New Orleans, April 
4, 1877.) 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 59 

Inability to resist it," they solemnly declared their purpose: 
"Never to submit to the pretended Packard Government; never 
to pay it a dollar of taxes; never to acknowledge its authority; 
but to resist it at every point and in every way, and to require 
that every demand which it may make upon the obedience of 
the citizens be enforced only by a present physical power, which 
we are incapable of resisting." 

The efforts of the commissioners were largely devoted to 
conciliatory interviews with representative men of the opposing 
parties, who freely gave them advice and information. For a time 
it looked as if these efforts would prove barren of results. It 
quickly became apparent that the only hope of bringing about 
a settlement, or creating an authority competent to deal with 
the situation in a constitutional way, was by seeking to make one 
legislative body which should have in both its branches a quorum 
of members possessing an unquestionable right to their seats 
on any theory of the election or of the powers of the Returning 
Board. Gradually a more reasonable temper began to prevail. 
Overtures were made by the Nicholls Legislature, which, though 
rejected by the Packard body, began to affect the steadfastness 
of individual Packard legislators; who doubtless likewise were 
at last becoming convinced that federal support could not much 
longer be counted on; and they began to drift over to the 
Nicholls body.^ By the evening of April 19, the commission was 

^ General Hawley, in a colloquy in the Senate, April 18, 1888, said of the 
commission's work: — 

"The commission . . . found Governor Packard in the custom-house, I think, 
really master of about half an acre of ground, and with a police force protecting 
him there, going, possibly, to his house to sleep; and they found Governor 
Nicholls in possession practically of the State, with a well-organized force of 
about three thousand troops. They found the Supreme Com-t declining to act. 
They found thirteen of the eighteen district judges Republicans, some of them 
acting and some not acting, some who were elected having qualified before the 
Nicholls Board and some having qualified elsewhere. It would have taken from 
that time to this to decide where the State Government of Louisiana actually 
was upon those facts. 

"The desire of the National Government, the desire of Mr. Hayes and his 
Cabinet, was that the properly elected members should get together in one 
Legislature with which he could deal. That Legislature could call upon him for 
troops if it desired to do so. If the Packard men had the most influence, they 
could have got men out of the Nicholls Legislature over to the Packard Legisla- 
ture. The upshot of it naturally was, that without this commission undertaking 
to coax them to one side or the other, the moment it was distinctly understood 



60 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

able to telegraph the President that a legal Legislature existed, 
when it advised the President to give immediate notice of his 
intention to withdraw the troops from the State House. ^ The 
President at once gave Secretary McCrary almost identically 
the same instructions that he had given him in the case of South 
Carolina. Four days later, April 24. the soldiers were with- 
drawn to their barracks, while church bells pealed and cannon 
boomed rejoicingly, and the Packard Government melted away 
as noiselessly as early frost in autumn under the rays of the 
rising sun.^ The next day Packard, following the example of 

doT\Ti there that President Hayes was not to use United States troops to enforce 
obedience to Packard (which, perhaps, would have created a cixil war), the 
Packard Legislature broke up, and the question was who would get first over 
into the other Legislature, and in a short time there was a large majority in that 
Legislature who were legal members according to the Returning Board." 

1 The commissioners included in their dispatch a letter received by them that 
day from Nicholls, transmitting to them joint resolutions adopted by his Legis- 
lature three days before, pledging the Nicholls Government to full acceptance of 
the war Amendments to the Constitution, to equal and exact justice to all citi- 
zens, and "to the promotion of kindly relations between the white and colored 
citizens." Nicholls in his letter declared that the resolutions expressed "not 
merely abstract ideas, but the conviction of our people which will be practically 
executed by them." For himself he averred: — 

"I have earnestly sought to obliterate the color line in politics, and consolidate 
the people on a basis of equal rights and common interests, and it is a source of 
gratification to be able to say that this great object is about to be realized. I feel 
that I do but speak the sentiments of the people when I declare that their Govern- 
ment will insure: First — A vigorous and efficient enforcement of the laws, so 
that all persons and property will be fully and equally protected; and should 
occasion require it, I will proceed in person where any disorders may menace 
the public peace or the political rights of any citizen. Second — The establish- 
ment of a system of public education, to be supported by equal and uniform 
taxation upon property, so that all, without regard to race or color, may receive 
equal advantages thereunder. Third — The fostering of immigration, in order to 
hasten the development of the great natural resources of the State. 

" Having thus committed our Government and people to these great principles, 
I desire to add the most emphatic assurances that the withdrawal of the United 
States troops to their barracks, instead of causing any disturbance of the peace, 
or any tendency to riot or disorder, will be the soiu-ce of profound gratification to 
our people, and will be accepted by them as a proof of the confidence of the Presi- 
dent in their capacity for orderly self-government. Enjoying, under the blessings 
of Divine Providence, the happiness resulting from a government based upon 
liberty and justice, the people of Louisiana cannot fail to appreciate that their 
good fortune is largely due to the magnanimous policj- so wisely inaugurated and 
so consistently maintained by the President of the United States." 

* " Nothing is left of the Packard Government except Governor Packard him- 
self and his metropolitan police guard. The President's order for the withdrawal 
of the troops broke up the Legislature with neatness and dispatch. There was a 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 61 

Chamberlain, issued an address to the Republicans of Louisiana, 
reviewing the events of the last few months, and declaring that 
under compulsion he would "abstain from all active assertion " 
of his right to govern. "I waive none of my legal rights," he 
said, "but yield only to superior force." He urged the Republi- 
cans to maintain their organization and "to battle for the rights 
of citizenship and free government." "To all," he concluded, 
"I counsel peace, patience, fortitude, and a firm trust that 
eventually right and justice will prevail." And with this noble 
advice slipping easily from his pen, the last of the carpetbaggers 
made his bow to the public and passed into obscurity. 

Before leaving New Orleans the commissioners addressed to 
the President a report of their activities and accomplishment, 
the more significant parts of which follow: — 

In view of the declaration in the letter of the Secretary of State, that 
we should direct our efforts to the end of securing the recognition of a 
single Legislature as the depositary of the representative will of the peo- 
ple of Louisiana, leaving, if necessary, to the judicial or other constitu- 
tional arbitrament within the State the question of the ultimate right, 
and in view of your determination to withdraw the troops of the United 
States to their barracks as soon as it could be done without endangering 
the peace, we addressed ourselves to the task of securing a common 
Legislature and undisputed authority competent to compose the exist- 
ing political contentions and preserve peace without any aid from the 
National Government. To this end we endeavored to assuage the bitter- 
ness and animosity we found existing on both sides, so as to secure pub- 
lic opinion less unfavorable to such concessions as were indispensable to 
our success in obtaining such Legislature, and such general acquiescence 
in its authority as would insure social order. We have had full confer- 
ences with the two gentlemen who claim the gubernatorial office, and 
with many members of their respective Governments in their executive, 
judicial, and legislative departments. We have also conversed very 
freely with large delegations of men of business, with many of the dis- 
trict judges, and with hundreds of prominent citizens of all parties 
and races, representing not only this city, but almost every parish in the 
State. . . . 

The actual condition of affairs on our arrival in this city may be 
briefly stated as follows: Governor Packard (we shall speak of both 

last mournful caucus yesterday, at which Governor Packard pleaded in vain for 
the members to stand by him a few days longer. A resolution was adopted to the 
effect that it was useless to prolong the contest and advising all members on the 
rolls of the Nicholls Legislature to go and take their seats." (New York Tribune, 
New Orleans dispatch, April 22, 1877.) 



62 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

gentlemen by the title they claim) was at the State House with his Legis- 
lature and friends and armed police force. As there was no quorum in 
the Senate, even upon his own theorj' of law, his Legislature was neces- 
sarily inactive. The Supreme Court, which recognized his authority, 
had not attempted to transact any business since it was dispossessed of 
its court-room and the custody of its records on the 9th day of January, 
1877. He had no organized militia, alleging that his deficiency in that 
respect was owing to the obedience to the orders of President Grant to 
take no steps to change the relative position of himself and Governor 
Nicholls. His main reliance was upon his alleged legal title, claiming 
that it was the constitutional duty of the President to recognize it, and 
to afford him such military assistance as might be necessary to enable 
him to assert his authority as Governor. 

Governor Nicholls was occupying the Odd Fellows' Hall as a State 
House. His Legislature met there, and was actively engaged in business 
of legislation. All the departments of the city government of New Or- 
leans recognized his authority. The Supreme Court, nominated by him, 
and confirmed by his Senate, was holding daily sessions, and had heard 
about two hundred cases. The time for the collection of taxes had not 
arrived, but considerable sums of money, in the form of taxes, had been 
voluntarily paid into his treasury, out of which he was defraying the 
ordinary expenses of the State Government. The Nicholls Legislature 
had a quorum in the Senate upon either the Nicholls or Packard theory 
of law, and a quorum in the House on the Nicholls, but not on the Pack- 
ard, theory. The Packard Legislature had a quorum in the House on its 
own theory of law, but, as already stated, not in the Senate, and was 
thus disabled from any legislation that would be valid even in the 
judgment of its own party. 

The commission found it to be very difficult to ascertain the precise 
extent to which the respective Governments were acknowledged in the 
various parishes outside of New Orleans; but it is safe to say that the 
changes which had taken place in parishes after the organization of 
the two Governments, January 9, 1877, were in favor of the Nicholls 
Government. 

It is claimed by the counsel for the Nicholls Government that this 
act [creating the Returning Board], so far as it interposes the Returning 
Board, exercising these powers of exclusion between the parish super- 
visor of registration, with his consolidated returns, and the Secretary of 
State, is, when applied to the election of members of the General Assem- 
blj', of the Governor, and of the Lieutenant-Governor, a plain violation 
of those provisions of the constitution of Louisiana which say the re- 
turns of all elections for members of the General Assembly shall be made 
to the Secretary of State; and, in reference to the Governor and Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, the returns of every election "shall be sealed up and 
transmitted by the proper returning officers to the Secretary of State," 
who shall deliver them to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 63 

On the other hand, it is insisted by the counsel for the Packard Govern- 
ment that the Legislature has power to create this Returning Board and 
give it the authority with which the act clothes it. It is also claimed by 
them that the constitutionality of the act has been settled by the Su- 
preme Court of the State, but the NichoUs party denied that the ques- 
tion was decided by the Supreme Court in a manner that could be con- 
sidered authoritative. It should be further stated that it was not claimed 
by the counsel for Governor NichoUs that the Legislature could not 
create a Returning Board and clothe it with these powers in regard to 
the appointment of the Presidential electors, since the provisions of the 
state constitution on which they rely relate only to the election of 
members of the Legislature, of Governor, and Lieutenant-Governor. 
We quote the following sentences from one of their printed arguments: 
"Indeed, as to Presidential electors, the mode of their appointment 
is, by the Constitution of the United States, left to the discretion of the 
Legislature of the State. Therefore the General Assembly of Louisiana 
might create any tribunal whatever and confide the appointment of 
electors for President and Vice-President to it. Consequently it may 
properly authorize such a tribunal in the case of the election of Presi- 
dential electors by the people to count the votes and decide and declare 
who were entitled to seats in the Electoral College." 

As matters stood on our arrival here the legal title of the respective 
claimants to the office of Governor depended upon the question we have 
stated. There was no judicial tribunal acknowledged to be authoritative 
by both parties by which it could be solved, for reasons alreadj^ given. 
The only hope of a practical solution was by the union of so many mem- 
bers of the rival Legislatures as would make a Legislature with a consti- 
tutional quorum, in both Senate and House, of members whose title to 
seats is valid under either view of the law. With a Legislature of undis- 
puted authority the settlement of other questions could, as stated in the 
letter of instruction to our commission from the Secretary of State, " be 
gradually worked out by the prevalent authority which the legislative 
power, when undisputed, is quite competent to exert in composing con- 
flicts in the coordinate branches of the Government." Within the last 
three days this first great step in restoring peace to the State has been 
accomplished. In consequence of a withdrawal of members from the 
Packard to the NichoUs Legislature, the latter body has now eighty- 
seven Returning Board members in the House and thirty-two in the 
Senate. Sixty-one members constitute a constitutional quorum in the 
House and nineteen in the Senate. 

It is proper that we should say, in conclusion, that it was in view of 
the foregoing facts, especially the consolidation of the Legislatures and 
our knowledge of the condition of Louisiana, derived from personal 
contact with the people, that we were induced to suggest, in our tele- 
gram of the 20th instant, that the immediate announcement of the time 
when the troops would be withdrawn to their barracks would be better 
for the peace of Louisiana than to postpone such announcement to some 



64 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

distant day. The commissioners, holding various shades of political 
belief, cannot well concur in any sketch of the past or probable future of 
Louisiana. We have forborne in this report to express any opinion on 
the legal questions arising upon the foregoing statement of facts, be- 
cause our letter of instructions seemed to call for a statement of facts 
rather than an expression of opinion by the commissioners. We all, 
however, indulge in confident hopes of better days for all races in Lou- 
isiana. Among the reasons for these hopes are the resolutions of the 
Nicholls Legislature and the letter of Governor Nicholls, herewith 
submitted, and which have already been given to the public. 

This clear and passionless survey of the Louisiana situation 
was sufficient to satisfy conservative public opinion, if any doubts 
still existed, that the policy adopted by the President was not 
only inevitable but wise. In no other way was real pacification 
in the South possible; the conditions that had long been a re- 
proach to civilization must else have continued, and internecine 
strife could only be prevented by the constant services of the 
federal troops. With the States left absolutely free to settle 
their own electoral contests in their own way, tranquillity was 
restored, decent government established, and the thoughts and 
energies of men directed toward industrial and commercial de- 
velopment — toward the cultivation of all the arts of peace. 

Mr. Hayes breathed a sigh of relief when the final step was 
taken. In his diary, April 22, he makes this concise entry : — 

We have got through with the South Carolina and Louisiana . 

At any rate, the troops are ordered away, and I now hope for peace, 
and, what is equally important, security and prosperity for the colored 
people. The result of my plans is to get from those States, by their 
Governors, Legislatures, press, and people, pledges that the Thirteenth, 
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments shall be faithfully observed; 
that the colored people shall have equal rights to labor, to education, 
and to the privileges of citizenship. I am confident this is a good work. 
Time will tell. 

And time did tell.^ For the moment, however, while the 

* November 22, 1877, President M. Stone, of Leiand University, New Orleans, 
wrote President Hayes: — 

"On your inauguration confident expectation was cherished by the colored 
people that you W(juld recognize the Packard Government, and that that meas- 
ure was the only one to give any safety to the rights or persons of the colored 
people, and this feeling was indulged by sagacious Northern men living here. I 
at first firmly believed it, but the very different course you have adopted, though 
inflicting a deep wound on the partisans that placed you in the chair, soon began 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 65 

President's course was approved by the sober conservative 
sense of the country, the air was filled with a clamor of criti- 
cism and denunciation by a comparatively small group of noisy 
irreconcilables. The aged ex-Senator Benjamin F. Wade, who 
had seconded Mr. Hayes's nomination at Cincinnati, felt himself 
"deceived, betraj'^ed, and humiliated" to a degree beyond his 
power of language to express (as he wrote to a friend) by the 
President's course. William Lloyd Garrison could see in it only 
"cowardly compromise" with the "incorrigible enemies of equal 
rights and legitimate government." Wendell Phillips fairly 
exhausted his exuberant vocabulary in spiteful vituperation. 
And Mr. Blaine expressed his "profoundest sympathy" for 
Governor Chamberlain in his "heroic though unsuccessful 
struggle for civil liberty and constitutional government," while 
his "heart and judgment" were with Governor Packard in his 
contest "against great odds." He was sure, too, that the Boston 
press did not correctly reflect "the Stalwart Republican feeling 
of New England." Many men of lesser note and many "Stal- 
wart" papers were echoing the sentiments of these leaders. 
Doubtless much of this feeling, especially on the part of the old- 
time antislavery agitators and workers, was genuine and sin- 
cere; but doubtless quite as much of it sprang from prejudice 
and wilful ignorance or was simulated for demagogic effect. 
The President did not allow his serenity to be in the least dis- 
turbed by the aspersions of his critics. He was merely carrying 
out, in good faith and to the best of his judgment, the pledges 
he had made in his letter of acceptance. He had meant what he 

to yield evidence of our mistake and of your wisdom, and now, I am happy to say 
your Southern policy has placed the colored people in a better situation than 
they have ever been in since the war. They are freer from fear, they are better 
protected, they are more likely to get justice in the courts, than ever before. I 
think the intelligent citizens of this State who opposed your election would be 
very reluctant to spare you from the Presidential chair, and I do not believe that 
Mr. Tilden could carry half his party vote in Louisiana against you. I heartily 
approve of your policy, and am quite sure the intelligent people, that were so 
much disappointed with yoxu- measures at first, now approve them and rejoice 
in your firmness and bravery in adopting and prosecuting them amidst such 
opposition. One thing which has excited our admiration has been your equal 
recognition of the interests, needs, and prejudices of both races. You have been 
an American President and not a President of a race or party. You will attain 
a place in the hearts of your countrymen second to that occupied by none in the 
history of our nation." 



66 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

said; if men had supported him, thinking his promises idle words, 
the fault was theirs, not his. He could have no controversy 
with those who honestly differed with him; he could only ask 
them to wait in patience and observe results. "My belief is," 
he said, "that this course tends to give good government to the 
South; it tends to secure peace between the sections, and be- 
tween the races or parties of the South; and it tends to secure 
the rights, interests, and safety of the colored people; therefore 
I am in favor of the policy. ... I respect the convictions of 
those who honestly differ from me, but am indifferent to those 
who propose a malignant opposition, because I cannot see that 
public duty leads me in the path that they would mark for my 
official footsteps." ^ 

Neither was the President disturbed by the frantic effort of 
many newspapers to make it appear that in his Southern policy 
he was simply carrying out a bargain alleged to have been made 
in his behalf by his friends, Charles Foster and Stanley Mat- 
thews, in their letter of February 27 to Senator Gordon and 
Congressman John Y. Brown. ^ The first reports of the exist- 
ence of such a letter, which were printed late in March, exag- 
gerated the importance of the document, and imputed to it an 
authoritative character which papers and persons, ready to find 
fault with the President, eagerly seized upon and made the most 
of. The authors of the letter promptly authorized its publica- 
tion, and all the circumstances attending the writing of it were 
set forth by Mr. Brown in a communication to the Louisville 
Courier- Journal ^ and by Mr. Foster in a newspaper interview.'* 

' Conversation with the President reported in the Washington correspondence 
of the New York Times, dated April 15, 1877. Compare also the following letter 
to W. D. Bickham, of the Dayton Journal : — 

Washington, D.C, April 22, 1877. 

Mt dear Major, — I am glad to see your article on the Southern question. I 
know how sore a trial this business is to stanch antislavery veterans like you. I 
expect many to condemn. I shall not worry, or scold if they do. I know they 
mean well. It is a comfort to know also that I mean well. It will, I trust, turn 
out that I am right. If not, I am a sound Republican still and always. — Sin- 
cerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

^ Already given in chapter xxvi. * Courier-Journal, March 29, 1877. 

* Fostoria Review, March 29, 1877: — 

' The letter written to John Young Brown and Senator Gordon was the result 
of a conversation I had with Mr. Brown, in which he asked for written assurances 



THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 67 

Both the text of the letter and the statements of these gentlemen 
proved conclusively that no "bargain" had been made or con- 
templated; that Mr. Hayes was entirely ignorant of the whole 
matter; that Messrs. Foster and Matthews had not professed 
to speak with authority, but had merely expressed, on the 
basis of their knowledge of Mr. Hayes's character and ways of 
thought, their confidence in his purposes toward the South. 
These purposes had clearly been forecast in his letter of accept- 
ance, and they knew, both from long acquaintance with Mr. 
Hayes and from his repeated assurances during the campaign 
and since the election, that he meant all that he said and all 
that his words implied. 

Every one could see that the writers of the letter had been 
justified in their confidence by the President's treatment of the 
Southern question in his inaugural address. Only that type of 
mind, which is always looking for petty motives or malign in- 
fluences to explain the origin of great actions, could persist in 
adhering to the silly bargain theory to account for Mr. Hayes's 
Southern policy. That policy was the simple fulfilment of the 
obligation he had assumed at the beginning of his candidacy; 
the accomplishment of a patriotic duty which his judgment and 
conscience approved. 

The heat and passion of that period evaporated long ago, and 
men now can regard the events of those agitated days with clear 

for his future justification. He distinctly stated that he did not ask this as a con- 
dition of carrying out the provisions of the Electoral Bill; that he regarded that 
as a matter of personal honor, and that no power could coerce him to do other- 
"wise than faithfully to stand by the provisions of the bill. He asked that a paper 
be signed by Mr. Matthews and myself, and be addressed to him and Senator 
Gordon. I expressed a willingness to accede to his wishes, and a paper was pre- 
pared, signed, and delivered. I have no recollection of having any conversation 
with Senator Gordon on the subject of writing this letter. The letter was a state- 
ment by Mr. Matthews and myself as to what we believed would be the policy 
of President Hayes in dealing with the Southern question. It contained nothing 
more than was contained in my speech on the subject." 

This statement accords with what Mr. Brown wrote in greater detail. Mr. 
Brown had gone to Mr. Foster because he had the "highest respect" for him and 
confidence in him, and because " he represented the district of Governor Hayes, 
[and] he had just made a manly and patriotic speech, in which he had said that 
imder President Hayes, if inaugurated, the flag shall float over States, not prov- 
inces; over freemen, not subjects." Mr. Foster told Mr. Brown that he had just 
received a letter "from Governor Hayes thanking him for his speech and en- 
dorsing it," which he offered to show to him and General Gordon. 



68 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

vision and calm judgment. Every one can see now that the 
experiment of permitting a newly enfranchised and ignorant 
servile race, led and dominated by unscrupulous adventurers, to 
govern American States in defiance of the intelligence, the cul- 
ture, and the property interests of the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants, 
was bound to prove a failure. The forces of civilization were sure 
to assert themselves and gain control. It was Mr. Hayes's merit 
to see clearer and think straighter than many of the forceful 
leaders of his party, and to be willing to admit that events had 
discredited the policy long pursued toward the reconstructed 
States. And then, though confronted with conditions of peculiar 
difficulty, he had the resolution to take the needed action. The 
judgment of history will unhesitatingly commend not only the 
wisdom but the moral courage with which Mr. Hayes answered 
for all time the obstinate and distracting Southern question. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 

NOW for civil service reform! " wrote Mr, Hayes in his diary 
on April 22, 1877, after recording his satisfaction at the 
disposal of the Southern problem. "Legislation," he continued, 
"must be prepared, and executive rules and maxims. We must 
limit and narrow the area of patronage; we must diminish the 
evils of office-seeking; we must stop interference of federal 
officers with elections; we must be relieved of congressional 
dictation as to appointments." In his letter of acceptance and 
in his inaugural address Mr. Hayes had shown that he fully 
recognized the iniquity of the spoils system and the need of 
thorough reform; in these brief sentences he gives a compre- 
hensive statement of the great ends to be achieved by reform. 
It is doubtful, however, whether he as yet realized how arduous 
was the task which he was undertaking, how many discourage- 
ments and obstacles were to be met in its pursuit, or how little 
assistance he was to receive from the controlling forces of his 
own party, committed to the good cause though they were by 
the declaration of the Cincinnati Convention. 

The spoils system had so long been woven into the very texture 
of American political life that its defenders or apologists had 
come almost to believe that its elimination would destroy the 
fabric itself. It was acquiesced in by the thoughtless and indif- 
ferent as though it were part of the order of nature. There was 
something plausibly appeahng in the clamor for "rotation in 
offices." Was not every citizen as good as every other in this 
great Republic? Ought not he to have his chance at the good 
things the Government had to offer? Every sort of employment 
in the public service was thought of as an "office" and as a 
reward to be attained, not because of any particular fitness or 
adaptability for performing the duties that it required, but be- 
cause a man was a good Republican or a good Democrat and 
had shown some skill in political work — in organizing and 



70 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

directing party activities in his ward or city, his county or State. ^ 
The idea of the civil service as a career for which men should 
be selected, as they would be in the ordinary commercial and 
industrial pursuits of life, because of their approved fitness or 
their promising ability, and should be retained and promoted 
for their experience and efficiency, had little place in the thoughts 
of active politicians or even of the great, good-natured, indif- 
ferent mass of citizens. Public service was regarded as somehow 
quite different from private enterprises, and not subject to the 
rules of merit and common sense without which, of course, these 
could not prosperously and honestly be conducted.^ 

Gradually, too, the Senators and Congressmen of the domi- 
nant party had virtually usurped the appointing power of the 
great bulk of the federal officers in their States. This power 
belongs under the Constitution to the Executive; but who so 
able to advise the Executive, in the wide extent of our domain, 
about local appointments, as the representatives in Congress? 
The giving of advice easily passes into dictation and demand; 
and this is made effective by the cooperation of the Senators 
to prevent the confirmation of any appointee obnoxious to the 
Senators of the State from which the appointee is taken. Nat- 
urally the Congressmen used the patronage to strengthen their 
o\vTi hold upon the party organization. Men that had served 
their interests were put in place and kept in place, not because 
they gave the Government good service, — though it must in 
fairness be frankly admitted that in multitudes of cases they did, 
— but because they were useful to their patrons, aiding them 

* "You observe that in making appointments the interests of the public serv- 
ice are — I will not say in all cases, but certainly in a very great proportion of 
cases — a consideration of only secondary importance. Men are appointed for 
what they have done or are to do for the party, and not for what they have done 
or are to do for the public service. They are not infrequently appointed to the 
salary and not to the office. It is political favoritism raised to the dignity of a 
ruling system." (Carl Schurz, speech in Senate January 27, 1871.) 

^ "You have learned that the offices of the Government are mere 'spoils,' 
'public plunder'; that instead of being regarded as the places of duty, they are 
regarded as conquests, the conquest of a party; as 'berths' into which men are 
put, not to use the best of their energies, not to look with anxiety after the in- 
terests of the Government, but to make it comfortable for themselves and to 
serve their friends. And you have learned more; how current these words 
'spoils' and 'plunder' have become in the mouths of the people, so that we have 
lost almost all sense of their fearful meaning." (Carl Schurz, ibid.) 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 71 

in their factional contests, and supporting them with personal 
effort and money contributions in their campaigns for renomina- 
tion and election. Of course, such a system led inevitably to the 
unnecessary multiplication of "places," to the creation of sine- 
cures for "workers " who had to be "taken care of," to insub- 
ordination and neglect of duty, to corrupt practices and the 
acceptance of bribes, to promotions of sycophants, and to arbi- 
trary dismissals of faithful clerks to make room for untried men 
whose "claims" could not be ignored. The success, efficiency, 
and perpetuity of the political machine are thus dependent in 
large measure upon the power of patronage, the dispensation 
and control of the spoils of office. It is not to be wondered at 
that the politicians who had been bred under this system, who 
had never known anything else, who had gained their promi- 
nence and their positions largely by its exercise, should stub- 
bornly have resisted its overthrow and bitterly resented the 
impertinence of the "impractical doctrinaires" who would not 
cease to proclaim its evils and to incite public opinion to demand 
reform. 

In Congress, too, a few stanch friends of the reform, foremost 
among whom was Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, had 
for years ceased not to cry out against the iniquitous spoils 
system. As early as December, 1866, Mr. Jenckes had intro- 
duced in the House a reform measure, which, however, received 
meagre attention. At each succeeding session he had made 
renewed efforts to obtain legislation.^ These efforts, while re- 
sulting for some years only in discussion, helped in the work of 
educating public sentiment which a few influential journals and 
an increasing number of high-minded and patriotic men were 
earnestly and steadfastly prosecuting — much to the annoyance 
of the practical politicians. Finally, in March, 1871, under the 
pressure of public opinion, a law was passed authorizing the 
President to prescribe rules and regulations governing the admis- 
sion of men to the civil service, and authorizing him to select 
suitable persons to assist him in this work. President Grant 
approved the law and promptly appointed a commission of 
seven members, at the head of which he placed the eminent 

^ In December, 1869, Mr. Schurz introduced in the Senate a bill of similar 
purport. 



72 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

reformer, George William Curtis. Reasonable rules were pre- 
pared by the commission which the President accepted with some 
reservation, and on January 1, 1872, they were put in effect with 
the grateful acclaim of all thoughtful people. The rules directed, 
among other things, that the employees in each department 
should be graded with reference to their experience and the im- 
portance of their work; that promotions to higher grades should 
be from the men already in the service; that new men should 
be admitted only to the lowest grade; and that men should be 
appointed only after their fitness had been ascertained by com- 
petitive examinations, under the supervision of the commission. 
While the enforcement of the rules was left entirely to the dis- 
cretion of the President, yet, as General Grant had shown by 
his messages that he was in sympathy with the reform, it was 
confidently believed that the first great step had been taken in a 
movement which should steadily go forward till all the abuses 
of patronage had been purged from our governmental system, 
and the same principles of merit and efficiency that were ob- 
served in the conduct of private business should prevail in the 
public offices.^ But this belief was doomed to speedy disap- 
pointment and extinction. The practical politicians had no 
thought of surrendering their preserves at the first onslaught. 
The great parties in their national and state platforms might 
commend the rules and urge further legislation; the Cabinet 
officers and heads of Departments might assiduously endeavor 
to enforce the rules; but they stood obdurate and defiant in their 
opposition, jeering the reform and reformers, seeking in all ways 
to undermine and circumvent the rules, and denouncing the 
whole movement as an attempt to foist the "Chinese system" 
upon our free American Republic. In vain did President Grant, 
in his messages of 1872 and 1873, ask for legislation sanction- 
ing the rules. The answer of Congress was the refusal of an 

' "The more intelligent and unselfish portion of the people . . . believed that 
the object of the long unanswered prayer of their hearts, for a purification and 
elevation of the civil service, was about to be realized. They, and the worthy 
men who, at the expense of great sacrifices to themselves, were invited to aid in 
preparing and applying the rules, thought that a party once committed to so 
beneficent a work would not voluntarily abandon it." {The Experiment of Civil 
Service Reform in the United States; paper by Dorman B. Eaton, read before the 
American Social Science Association at Detroit, May, 1875.) 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 73 

appropriation to provide for the expenses of the commission and 
threats of legislation making the spoils system more complete. 
Finally, in his message of December 7, 1874, President Grant 
declared that it was impracticable to maintain the rules "with- 
out the direct and positive support of Congress." He gave 
warning that "if Congress adjourned without positive legisla- 
tion on the subject of 'civil service reform,' he would regard 
such action as a disapproval of the system and would abandon 
it." That was cheering news to the enemies of the reform, in 
Congress and out, and they saw to it that no positive legislation 
was enacted. The promised result followed; the commission 
passed into a state of suspended animation; the President lost 
all interest; and the good old spoils system, dear to the heart 
of every practical politician, resumed its malign sway; more 
arrogant and aggressive, if anything, than ever, because of its 
triumph over the forces of decency and common sense. 

The advocates of reform were disappointed, but not utterly 
cast down. They renewed their pestilent agitation with a zeal and 
determination that could not fail to impress public sentiment. 
The spoilsmen had perforce to recognize the popular demand 
for reform, and acquiesced without a murmur in the adoption 
by the national conventions of both parties in 1876 of force- 
ful declarations in favor of civil service reform. But they had 
no intention of making the promise good, and those of the 
Republican party were far from pleased at the insistence placed 
upon it by Mr. Hayes in his letter of acceptance and again in 
his inaugural address. So, at the beginning of his Administra- 
tion, Mr. Hayes confronted this situation: First, his party was 
committed by its latest official pronouncement to civil service 
reform, and the better sentiment of the country, irrespective of 
party, demanded it. Second, he himself believed sincerely in its 
need and its importance, and he was under the most solemn 
pledge, which he had no thought of repudiating, to do everything 
in his power for its realization. Third, the spoils system was in 
full force and acceptance throughout the civil establishment of 
the Government; the Republican Senators and Congressmen 
were in practical control of the patronage in their States and 
districts, making appointments and causing dismissals as suited 
their whims or as would best serve the exigencies of their party, 



74 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

or factional schemes — virtual overlords of the Government's 
servants. These beneficiaries of the system, who felt their con- 
sequence much enhanced by the power it gave them, had not 
only no wish to see it reformed or restricted, but were tena- 
cious in their determination to defy the party promise and the 
popular desire and to retain the patronage they had so long 
exercised. They could be counted upon to obstruct and dis- 
credit, within the limits of their influence and ingenuity, what- 
ever efforts toward genuine reform should be put forth by the 
Executive. 

The law of March 3, 1871, to be sure, under which President 
Grant had made his futile and fleeting attempt at reform, was 
still in force. By its authority the President could establish 
rules and regulations governing appointments and dismissals, 
but wholly within his own discretion to enforce or to relax. 
He could not expect the moribund commission to assist in the 
execution of the rules unless Congress appropriated money for 
its compensation. And there could be no assurance of the perma- 
nency of any action he should take without positive legislation 
by Congress establishing a reform system. It was thus quite 
impossible for the President alone to bring about "a reform that 
should be thorough, radical, and complete," the need of which 
he had emphasized in his inaugural address. That would require 
the sympathy and cooperafion of the legislative branch of the 
Government. But he could do much to minimize and mitigate 
the abuses of the existing system by acting himself in harmony 
with reform principles in causing dismissals and in making ap- 
pointments, and by requiring the Departments at Washington 
and the postmasters and customs collectors in the great cities 
to adopt business methods in the selection and retention of their 
subordinates. He could also restrict the political activities 
of officeholders and he could resist congressional assumption of 
right to control federal patronage. In all these particulars — 
though with numerous lapses — in spite of the constant agitation 
of influential leaders of his own party, in spite of the frequent 
disloyalty to the spirit of reform on the part of men in office, 
and in spite of the malignant cavilling of petty politicians and 
prejudiced journals, Mr. Hayes's Administration marked an 
epoch in the civil service of the country. 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 75 

At the very beginning of his Administration Mr. Hayes let 
it be understood that no sweeping changes in the civil service 
would be instituted; that appointments would be made only to 
fill vacancies; that men would be dismissed only for the good of 
the service, — not for political reasons or to make room for 
other men; that the recommendations of Congressmen would 
not be regarded as conclusive; that appointments in the various 
Departments would be left primarily to the Cabinet officers; 
that personal apphcations to the President would receive scant 
consideration; that apphcations to members of his family would 
be absolutely futile; and that no person connected with him by 
blood or marriage would be appointed to office.^ One result of 
all this was that the throng of office-seekers at Washington from 
all parts of the country and the pressure for place, great as these 
were, were much less considerable than had marked the opening 

^ "The brother-in-law and cousin will have no place in President Hayes's 
Administration. Among the unsuccessful candidates for the United States 
Marshalship for the Northern District of Illinois was a Mr. Stillwell, of Living- 
ston County. He was admitted to a private audience with the President and 
presented his papers. The President looked them all carefully through, and then, 
looking Mr. Stillwell full in the face, said: 'Your papers are unexceptionable; 
there is nothing in your record which does not seem to show that you are fully 
qualified for the position; but there is one insuperable objection to your appoint- 
ment to any federal office — that is, your wife is a favorite cousin of Mrs. Hayes.' 
Mr. Stillwell left the Presidential office convinced at last that the fact which 
many thought would insure his appointment had rendered his defeat inevitable." 
(New York Tribune, Washington correspondence, March 16.) 

To a kinsman, H. S. Noyes, Mr. Hayes wrote July 24, 1878: — 

"I have your letter of the 21st. You evidently have not heard of the rule — 
an ungracious and embarrassing rule — which I felt it was my duty to adopt 
against the appointment of relatives to office. No man connected with me by 
blood or marriage has received any appointment at my hands. I need not say 
that there have been applicants. No doubt a number of them have felt severely 
my refusal to give them places. Generally, I am glad to be able to say, my course 
on this subject has been approved by my own and by my wife's kindred. I need 
not argue the propriety of the course. As you say, 'Enough is as good as a 
feast.' 

"You speak of local places which you would like to have. Such places are 
usually filled by incumbents of local offices. Of coiu-se, I do not dictate or oppose 
such appointments. I simply let them alone. 

"This is a hard letter to write. I feel the value of what you have done. I am 
persuaded of the warmth and sincerity of your friendship. More than most men, 
I suspect, I feel the ties of kinship and the duties they impose. Your qualifica- 
tions and fitness for any duty you would undertake, I know are ample. But the 
principle is in the way. Hence this awkward and, I fear you will think, this cold 
and unfriendly note." 



76 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

weeks of any other new Administration within the memory of 
the oldest pubUc men.^ 

At the first meeting of the Cabinet, Messrs. Evarts and 
Schurz were appointed a committee to formulate rules to gov- 
ern appointments. Secretary Schurz took immediate steps to 
reorganize his Department, informing the clerks that their 
tenure of place and their promotion would depend, not on favor 
or political backing, but on their efficiency and their fidelity 
to duty. The subordinates in other Departments received 
similar assurances.^ Superfluous clerks were dispensed with, 
incompetents were dismissed, sinecures were abolished; and the 
morale of the service and the diligence of the clerks began to 
show marked improvement.^ In all Departments better dis- 
cipline and closer attention to duty were presently observed. It 
was made perfectly clear in due time to all government officers, 
clerks, and employees that they could with absolute impu- 
nity refuse any demands made upon them for contributions by 

^ "It is a remarkable and creditable fact that with the incoming of a new 
Administration, having control of from forty thousand to fifty thousand public 
offices, the number of persons who have come to Washington seeking govern- 
ment employment is actually less than that of those who came here in Decem- 
ber, 1875, to compete for the hundred or two appointments to be made by 
the Democratic House of Representatives." (New York Tribune, Washington 
correspondence, March 9.) 

^ For example. Secretary McCrary issued the following circular to the em- 
ployees of the War Department: "The civil employees now in the service of the 
United States, under the War Department, are hereby informed that hereafter 
removals will be made in this Department for cause only, and promotions will 
be ordered upon the sole ground of merit. Every official must understand that 
retention and advancement in the service will depend upon record of good be- 
havior and efficiency and not upon external influence. No political test is re- 
quired beyond an earnest support of the Constitution and its amendments and 
a proper respect for the rights of citizens guaranteed thereby. Industry and 
faithfulness in the discharge of duty, a good moral character, and strictly tem- 
perate habits will be required and enforced, and heads of bureaus will report 
promptly any case of idleness, neglect of duty, incapacity, drunkenness, or any 
immoral or dishonest conduct. In case of vacancy, reports thereof will be made, 
accompanied by a list of all the most reliable and efficient clerks in the same 
office, division, or bureau, from which list the vacancy shall be filled." 

' To Senator Merrimon, of North Carolina, Postmaster-General Key wrote 
March 17, 1877: "While I shall always be glad to receive the advice of Senators 
and Representatives in Congress, touching matters of this kind, yet I shall not 
consider myself as in any way bound to act upon it. My desire is to do the 
gr<>atest good to the greatest number, and to this end I shall always be glad to 
have your cooperation." 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 77 

campaign committees. If they chose to give, like other members 
of the party, that was their afifair; but they were to feel no con- 
straint to give any specified percentage of their salary at the 
behest of party authority; and they were to understand that 
their refusal to give would in no way affect their standing or 
prospect of advancement in the public service. 

Secretary Sherman appointed a commission of three men, with 
John Jay as chairman, to make a thorough investigation of the 
condition of the New York Custom-House.'^ Its report showed 
that the most scandalous disregard of businesslike methods 
prevailed; that in the selection of subordinates and their reten- 
tion in place the welfare of the government service was sub- 
ordinated to the interests of party politics and politicians in 
New York City and State; that hundreds of supernumerary em- 
ployees were on the pay-roll, many of whom rendered no service 
at all to the Government. The recommendations of the com- 
mission that politics be eliminated from the custom-house and 
that the collector and his force confine themselves to the duties 
for which they were engaged, were approved by the President in 
the following letter to Secretary Sherman: — 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, May 26, 1877. 

My dear Sib, — I have read the partial report of the commission 
appointed to examine the New York Custom-House. I concur with the 
commission in their recommendations. It is my wish that the collection 
of the revenues should be free from partisan control, and organized on a 
strictly business basis, with the same guaranties for efficiency and fidel- 
ity in the selection of the chief and subordinate officers that would be 
required by a prudent merchant. Party leaders should have no more 
influence in appointments than other equally respectable citizens. No 
assessment for political purposes, on officers or subordinates, should be 
allowed. No useless officer or employee should be retained. No officer 
should be required or permitted to take part in the management of 
political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns. 
Their right to vote, and to express their views on public questions, either 
orally or through the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere 
with the discharge of their official duties. — Respectfully, 

R. B. Hates. 

Hon. John Sherman, etc. 

^ Similar commissions likewise investigated the custom-houses at Boston and 
Philadelphia with much the same results. 



78 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES | 

This letter evoked discussion and comment throughout the 
country, by far the weightier part of which expressed approval 
and commendation. Here, indeed, a blow was struck at the very 
vitals of the evil system. Let the prohibitions of this letter pre- 
vail, and a complete divorce of the civil service from political 
activity be brought about, and all the other abuses that now 
scandalized the civil service would easily be eliminated. Some 
journals of high standing and some men of disinterested motives, 
however, urged that the President w^as going too far in restrict- 
ing the political activity of public officers; that such men ought 
to have the same right to participate in politics as private citi- i 

zens — indeed, that they were under greater obligations to do '^ 

so because of the privileges they enjoyed as officers, and their | 

greater knowledge of affairs. This was, of course, on the assump- 1 

tion that all placemen were and of right should be members of ■ 

the dominant party; for any suggestion that officeholders who 
might happen to belong to the opposition should engage in party 
activity was admitted to be intolerable. The complete answer 
to such objections is that men in the public service are the 
servants of the entire body politic; and that it is scandalous for 
them to make themselves obnoxious to one half the people whom 
they are serving and to w^hom they owe their livelihood. While 
it is fitting and desirable that men in the higher offices, who are 
part of the Administration, or distinctly represent it, should on 
all proper occasions appear to explain and defend its policies, the 
men whose sole duty it is to carry on the business functions of the 
Government — to handle the mails, to collect the revenues, to 
conduct the agencies of justice, and to perform all the multifari- 
ous clerical duties of the various executive departments — ought 
to be as little concerned with the activities of partisan politics 
as the men in the army and na\'y. But that was too high an ideal 
for any except the most clear-sighted and resolute reformers 
distinctly to grasp and steadfastly to uphold in the year of grace 
1877. The practical politicians, both in office and out, and a 
large proportion of the partisan press, were sure the President's 
views would never do; that if they were actually enforced, the 
party would go to smash, and the very liberties of the people 
would be endangered. Only through the instrumentality of 
parties could the Government be carried on. A man must 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 79 

believe that the Government would best be served by his own 
party. It was, therefore, not only the right but the duty of the 
President to use the offices to strengthen his party's position 
and to improve its prospects of control, as well locally as in the 
nation; and the men he placed in office ought to feel under 
compelling obligation to labor constantly for the party's welfare. 
True, the President might have answered, but "he serves his 
party best who serves his country best." 

The murmurs of officeholders and practical politicians and the 
strictures of friendly critics did not disturb the President's equa- 
nimity nor deter him from the course he had marked out. After 
a few weeks, the principles laid down to be observed in the con- 
duct of the New York Custom-House were made to apply to the 
entire civil service. This was accomplished by the issuance of 
the following executive order which was mailed to all officers: ^ — 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, June 22, 1877. 
Sir, — I desire to call your attention to the following paragraph in a 
letter addressed by me to the Secretary of the Treasury, on the conduct 
to be observed by officers of the general Government in relation to the 
elections : — 

"No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the 

^ It was recalled by the newspapers of the day that a similar letter had been 
written at the beginning of Harrison's Administration by Daniel Webster, Sec- 
retary of State, which said: — 

" Sir, — The President is of opinion that it is a great abuse to bring the patron- 
age of the general Government into conflict with the freedom of elections; and 
that this abuse ought to be corrected wherever it may have been permitted to 
exist, and to be prevented in future. He therefore directs that information be 
given that partisan interference in popular elections, whether of state officers or 
officers of this Government, and for whomsoever or against whomsoever it may 
be exercised, or the payment of any contribution or assessment on salaries or 
official compensation for party or election purposes, will be regarded by him as 
cause of removal. 

"It is not intended that any officer shall be restrained in the free and proper 
expression and maintenance of his opinions respecting public men or public 
measures, or in the exercise, to the fullest degree, of the constitutional right of 
suffrage. But persons employed under the Government and paid for their serv- 
ices out of the public treasury are not expected to take an active or officious 
part in attempts to influence the minds or votes of others; such conduct being 
deemed inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution and the duties of public 
agents acting under it; and the President is resolved, so far as depends upon 
himself, that, while the exercise of the elective franchise by the people shall be 
free from undue influence of official station and authority, opinion shall also be 
free among the officers and agents of the Government. ..." 



80 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election 
campaigns. Their right to vote and to express their views on public 
questions, either orally or through the press, is not denied, provided 
it does not interfere with the discharge of their official duties. No 
assessment for political purposes, on officers or subordinates, should be 
allowed." 

This rule is applicable to every department of the civil service. It 
should be understood by every officer of the general Government that 
he is exjiected to conform his conduct to its requirements. — Very 
respectfully, 

R. B. Hayes. 

To THE . 

Thereupon the newspapers of the important cities began to 
publish lists of the federal officeholders of their locality that held 
official relations with the party machine. These lists gave the 
general public a startling revelation of the extent of the mutual 
relations and interdependence of the machine and the oflSce- 
holding class. They were conclusive evidence that in the custom- 
houses and post-offices at the great centres of population the 
good of the public service had been a secondary consideration 
in making appointments. The determining factor had been the 
demand of the party organization, controlled by some powerful 
party leader. 

Meanwhile vacancies in the various branches of the civil serv- 
ice, due to expiration of terms, resignations, or deaths, were 
being gradually filled, and in most cases by the choice of men that 
won the approbation of the communities affected, while the men 
appointed to the diplomatic service or to other positions of na- 
tion-wide interest were with rare exceptions men whose distinc- 
tion admittedly approved their selection.^ In some of the few 
cases of dismissal of postmasters or collectors bitter contro- 
versies arose and the action taken could hardly be justified on 

^ "He [the President] has appointed none of the old 'war horses' and machine 
managers to office; he has in several cases, as in Baltimore, displaced notorious 
poHticians, and he has continued, slowly and with great care, but without inter- 
mission, to weed incompetent and improper persons out of the public service. 
He has refused to make removals for merely political reasons; he has made new 
appointments in disregard of political considerations, where these seemed to him 
to come in conflict with the public interest. He has caused competent and faith- 
ful officers to feel that they are appreciated, and he has incurred the hatred and 
opi)osition of incompetent and unworthy officers by doing his duty fearlessly 
toward them. He has breathed a new spirit into the public service." (New York 
Ilerald, editorial, July 9, 1877.) 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 81 

reform principles; rather it was evident that factional politics 
had much to do therewith. It is clear that Mr. Hayes soon 
became conscious of this, for August 5 he writes in his diary : — 

I grow more conservative every day on the question of removals. On 
ex 'parte statements I have made mistakes in removing men who perhaps 
ought to have been retained, and in appointing wrong men. Not many 
removals have been made. Less than by any new Administration since 
John Q. Adams. But I shall be more cautious in future — make remov- 
als only in clear cases, and appoint men only on the best and fullest 
evidence of fitness. 

The Forty-fourth Congress had failed to pass the Army 
Appropriation Bill for the fiscal year beginning July 1. It was 
thought at first that it would be necessary to call an extra 
session of Congress not later than June or July to remedy this 
failure. But the President and the Cabinet after much consid- 
eration decided that it would be possible to avoid a midsummer 
session by suspending army payments for the first quarter of the 
new fiscal year and so postpone the extra session until autumn. 
While this decision provoked much adverse criticism, its wis- 
dom was promptly recognized. By October the effect of the 
President's Southern policy would be more apparent, and the 
bitterness of feeling that its adoption had aroused in the hearts 
of the more radical Republicans would probably be greatly 
assuaged so that a calmer judgment could find expression. Con- 
gress would know better likewise how the country regarded the 
civil service policy and the fiscal measures of the Administra- 
tion.^ The President issued his proclamation on May 5, fixing 
Monday, October 15, as the date for the beginning of the 
special session. 

The Democrats had a small majority (thirteen) in the new 
House of Representatives; the Republicans a majority of two 

1 " My official life in the Presidency has so far been successful in the main and 
happy. The country does seem to be coming back to the ancient concord, and 
good people approve what I am trying to do. ... I must resolve on this birthday 
to do better in the future than ever before. With good health and great oppor- 
tunities, may I not hope to confer great and lasting benefits on my country? 
I mean to try. Let me be kind and considerate in treatment of the unfortunate 
who crowd my doorway, and firm and conscientious in dealing with the tempt- 
ers. The Southern question seems to be on a good footing. The currency also. 
The Mexican question is perplexing. The improvement of the civil service, I 
must constantly labor for." (Diary, October 4, 1877.) 



82 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

in the Senate.^ There had been some slight hope that enough of 
the Southern Democrats in the House would unite with the Re- 
publicans to make Mr. Garfield Speaker; but that hope seems to 
have had no substantial basis. The Democrats promptly reelected 
Mr. Randall, and on Tuesday the President's special message 
was read. This briefly asked that the appropriation for the army 
be made without delay, that certain deficiencies in other De- 
partments be provided for, and that provision be made for shar- 
ing in the Paris Exposition to be held the next year. It is not 
necessary here to follow the proceedings of Congress. The legis- 
lators had not been in Washington long and had opportunity 
for exchange of views when it became evident that many of the 
Republicans were antagonistic to the President's policies. Mr, 
Hayes was quick to apprehend the situation, for which, indeed, 
he must have been prepared by the continued fault-finding of 
the party press and the action of certain Republican state con- 
ventions. Hostile critics were freely interpreting the defeat of 
the Republicans in the October election in the President's own 
State as evidence of the unpopularity of the President's policy. 
October 24, Mr. Hayes wrote in his diary: — 

It is now obvious that there is a very decided opposition to the 
Administration in both houses of Congress, among the Republican 
members. There seems not to be any considerable personal hostility 
to me. But a conference of about twenty members of the House at Mr. 
Sherman's developed a decided hostility to my measures on the part of 
members respectable both in character and number. Their objections 
extend to all of my principal acts. The opposition is directed against : — 

1. The Cabinet. It is said there are only four Republican members, 
namely, Sherman, Devens, McCrary, and Thompson. That Evarts 
and Schurz are disorganizers, doctrinaires, and Liberals, and Key is a 
Democrat. 

2. The attempt to make the civil service non-partisan is ruinous to 
the party; unjust and offensive to officeholders, and is an attempt 
to accomplish the impossible, namely, a non-partisan civil service. 

3. The pacification of the South is a total departure from the princi- 
ples, traditions, and wishes of the party. 

A majority of members probably favor some part of these measures. 
Only a small number support all of them. The adversary points to the 
results of elections as showing that the people condemn the Administra- 
tion, and that it is destroying the party. The most bitter opposition 

1 This counts Senator Davis of Illinois with the Democrats with whom he had 
the greater sympathy. 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 83 

arises from the apprehension that the course of the Administration 
will: 

4. Deprive Congressmen of all control and share of the patronage of 
the Government. 

How to meet and overcome this opposition is the question. I am clear 
that I am right. I believe that a large majority of the best people are in 
full accord with me. Now, my purpose is to keep cool — to treat all 
adversaries considerately, respectfully, and kindly, but at the same time 
in a way to satisfy them of my sincerity and firmness ; in all parts of my 
official conduct to strive conscientiously and unselfishly to do what is 
wise. In my anxiety to complete the great work of pacification I have 
neglected to give due attention to the civil service — to the appoint- 
ments and removals. The result is, some bad appointments have been 
made. Some removals have been mistakes. There have been delays in 
action. All this I must try now to correct. 

Believing that his policy was right and that it commanded the 
approval of the best sentiment of the country, Mr. Hayes re- 
fused to be discouraged by disaffection among the members of 
his own party in Congress. It was no more than he might have 
expected, from the very nature of things, when he relinquished 
the accepted Republican policy in the South and began his 
attack on the long-established spoils system.^ In his first annual 
message, presented to Congress December 3, 1877, Mr. Hayes 
had this to say of civil service reform : — 

The organization of the civil service of the coimtry has for a number 
of years attracted more and more of the public attention. So general 
has become the opinion that the methods of admission to it, and the 
conditions of remaining in it, are unsound, that both the great political 
parties have agreed in the most explicit declarations of the necessity of 
reform, and in the most emphatic demands for it. I have fully believed 

^ "We do not believe that the President misunderstands the situation in the 
least degree. He knows, doubtless as well as any one, that to call into his Cabinet 
an ex-Rebel Democrat, the Greeley leader of 1872, and the New Yorker whom 
the dominant influence in the Republican party of that State especially disliked, 
— to follow such acts by the withdrawal of the troops in Louisiana and South 
Carolina, and then to prohibit ofBceholding management of politics, — was to 
arouse a deadly hostility within his own party. If he had any doubt upon the 
subject, it would have been instantly removed by the opposition of Mr. Blaine 
in the Senate; by the amazement of part of the Republican press, deepening into 
indignation as his Administration proceeded; by the condemning silence of the 
Iowa convention; by the demonstration at Woodstock, and its loud laudation 
by the same press; by the sullen contempt for the prohibitory order; by the wrath 
with the custom-house investigating commission; and by the emphatic but in- 
direct censure of the Maine convention." (George William Curtis, Harper's 
Weekly, September 15, 1877.) 



84 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

these declarations and demands to be the expression of a sincere convic- 
tion of the intelligent masses of the people upon the subject, and that 
thej' should be recognized and followed by earnest and prompt action on 
the part of the legislative and executive departments of the Govern- 
ment, in pursuance of the purpose indicated. 

Before my accession to oflBce I endeavored to have my own views 
distinctly understood, and upon my inauguration my accord with the 
public opinion was stated in terms believed to be plain and unambigu- 
ous. My experience in the executive duties has strongly confirmed the 
belief in the great advantage the coimtry would find in observing strictly 
the plan of the Constitution, which imposes upon the Executive the sole 
duty and responsibility of the selection of those federal officers who, by 
law, are appointed, not elected; and which, in like manner, assigns to 
the Senate the complete right to advise and consent to, or to reject, the 
nominations so made; whilst the House of Representatives stands as the 
public censor of the performance of ofiicial duties, with the prerogative 
of investigation and prosecution in all cases of dereliction. The blem- 
ishes and imperfections in the civil service may, as I think, be traced, in 
most cases, to a practical confusion of the duties assigned to the several 
departments of the Government. My purpose, in this respect, has been 
to return to the system established by the fundamental law, and to do 
this with the heartiest cooperation and most cordial understanding with 
the Senate and House of Representatives. 

The practical difiiculties in the selection of numerous officers for posts 
of widely varying responsibilities and duties are acknowledged to be 
very great. No system can be expected to secure absolute freedom from 
mistakes, and the beginning of any attempted change of custom is quite 
likely to be more embarrassed in this respect than any subsequent 
period. It is here that the Constitution seems to me to prove its claim 
to the great wisdom accorded to it. It gives to the Executive the assist- 
ance of the knowledge and experience of the Senate, which, when acting 
upon nominations as to which they may be disinterested and impartial 
judges, secures as strong a guaranty of freedom from errors of impor- 
tance as is perhaps possible in human affairs. 

In addition to this, I recognize the public advantage of making all 
nominations, as nearly as possible, impersonal, in the sense of being free 
from mere caprice or favor in the selection; and in those offices in which 
special training is of greatly increased value, I believe such a rule as to 
the tenure of office should obtain as may induce men of proper qualifica- 
tions to apply themselves industriously to the task of becoming profi- 
cients. Bearing these things in mind, I have endeavored to reduce the 
number of changes in subordinate places usually made upon the change 
of the general administration, and shall most heartily cooperate with 
Congress in the better systematizing of such methods and rules of ad- 
mission to the public service, and of promotion within it, as may promise 
to be most successful in making thorough competency, efficiency, and 
character the decisive tests in these matters. 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 85 

I ask the renewed attention of Congress to what has already been 
done by the Civil Service Commission, appointed in pursuance of an 
act of Congress by my predecessor, to prepare and revise civil service 
rules. In regard to much of the departmental service, especially at 
Washington, it may be difficult to organize a better system than that 
which has thus been provided, and it is now being used to a considerable 
extent under my direction. The commission has still a legal existence, 
although for several years no appropriation has been made for defraying 
its expenses. Believing that this commission has rendered valuable serv- 
ice, and will be a most useful agency in improving the administration of 
the civil service, I respectfully recommend that a suitable appropriation, 
to be immediately available, be made to enable it to continue its labors. 

It is my purpose to transmit to Congress as early as practicable a 
report by the chairman of the commission, and to ask your attention to 
such measures on this subject as in my opinion will further promote the 
improvement of the civil service.^ 

Meanwhile, it had become evident that there could be small 
hope of taking the New York Custom-House out of politics as 
long as Collector Arthur and the other chief officers were men 
who, not only had no sympathy with reform principles, but be- 
lieved thoroughly in using their official power and position in the 
management and control of the New York Republican machine. 
Mr. Cornell, the Naval Officer, was the chairman of the Republi- 
can State Committee, and he had openly defied the President's 
order of June 22 by continuing to act in that capacity. If such 
conduct on the part of so conspicuous an ofiicer was condoned, 
the President's order would at once have become a dead letter. 
It would have been a virtual announcement to all government 
employees that the order had been suspended or abrogated.^ 

^ "The message has been well received — encouragingly so. It has but little 
on the reform of the civil service. I must now prepare a special message. Let 
me say : — 

"1. There should be legislation [which] will reheve Congressmen from all 
responsibihty for the appointments. They must neither seek to control nor even 
to influence appointments. 

"If Congress fails to legislate for this end, I must adopt and publish rules. 

"2. Divorce officeholders from the active management of politics. 

"3. Admit to subordinate places on examinations. 

"4. Retain all good officers during their terms and establish rules." (Diary, 
December 6, 1877.) 

* It must be admitted, however, that this order was never consistently and 
effectively enforced. It did check and restrict the interference of officeholders 
in politics; but as men that violated its injunctions were not invariably and 
promptly dismissed, it gradually came to be looked on more as a counsel of 



«6 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

At the same time it was obvious that the attempt to supersede 
the custom-house officers would be fiercely contested by Senator 
Conkling, whose lieutenants they were. The Republican state 
convention at Rochester in September, which was dominated by 
Mr. Conkling, had exultantly rejected a resolution commend- 
ing the President's reform programme. Under the vicious 
"courtesy of the Senate" canon, and with the widespread dis- 
affection among the more radical Republicans toward the Presi- 
dent's policies, there was strong probability that any new men 
the President might name would fail of confirmation. But the 
President did not hesitate to do his part. Messrs. Arthur and 
Cornell refused to resign when requested to do so. AMiereupon 
the President decided on their removal, and early in November 
sent to the Senate the names of Theodore Roosevelt, L. Brad- 
ford Prince, and Edwin A. Merritt to succeed Mr. Arthur, Col- 
lector, Mr. Cornell, Naval Officer, and Mr. Sharpe, Surveyor of 
the Port (whose term had expired). And at once the fight was 
on. The sober sense of the country and the more influential 
journals that were committed to reform applauded the Presi- 
dent's action; the practical politicians and the papers that re- 
flected their views raised a clamor of condemnation. Mr. 
Conkling labored unceasingly to defend the prescriptive right 
of a Senator to veto appointments in his State that he had 
not suggested or approved. It was an insult to his dignity, an 

perfection than as an imperative rule of conduct. Civil service reformers of the 
straitest sect were sadly disappointed at the President's failure to punish in- 
fractions of the order. But the average opinion of the country regarded his con- 
duct leniently, not yet being educated (who will venture to say that it even now 
is?) to resent official meddling in political processes and party manipulation. 

On this subject, a year after his retirement from the White House, Mr. Hayes 
wrote in his diary (July 4, 1882) : — 

"I occasionally hear that the rule as to interference of federal officers in elec- 
tions was not enforced. But it must be admitted that on this subject a vast and 
beneficial change was effected. The Administration did not through its office- 
holders interfere or seek to interfere with the freedom of elections. Those who 
were active were not as a rule friends of the Administration, but its opponents. 
Take the case of the important offices at Portland, Boston, Providence, New 
York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, etc., etc. For the first [time] in fifty 
years those great offices were not used to promote the party and personal ends 
of the Administration. 

" As to assessments. All officers were distinctly notified that they need not con- 
tribute to political purposes. There were large numbers who did not do so, and none 
of them were removed, or prejudiced by their neglect or refusal to contribute." 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 87 

interference with his party authority, an assault on the party 
itself, for the President to displace his friends, his coadjutors in 
defending and fortifying the Republican cause in the Empire 
State, and to appoint men in their stead without consulting his 
wishes. In standing out against such action, he would not be 
thought of as swayed by merely personal motives; he was seek- 
ing to preserve the dignity of the Senate itself. Let these nomi- 
nations, which were most obnoxious to him, be confirmed and 
what had become of the "courtesy of the Senate," that benefi- 
cent principle which recognized the Senators of each State (of 
the dominant party) as best fitted to determine the propriety 
of any appointment from their State? The Republican Senators 
generally supported Conkling, even Blaine for the time consent- 
ing to assist his dearest enemy. Mr. Hayes watched the prog- 
ress of the controversy which continued among the Senators for 
many days. December 9 he wrote in his diary : — 

I am now in a contest on the question of the right of Senators to dic- 
tate or control nominations. Mr. Conkling insists that no officer shall 
be appointed in New York without his consent, obtained previously to 
the nomination. This is the first and most important step in the effort 
to reform the civil service. It now becomes a question whether I should 
not insist that all who receive important places should be on the right 
side of this vital question. None who are opposed to the Cincinnati plat- 
form on this important question are to be regarded as Republicans in 
good standing. How would this do.'* Rather radical, probably, but if 
the war goes on I must think of it. ^ 

Finally the nominations came to a vote. Mr. Roosevelt and 
Mr. Prince failed of confirmation and Mr. Merritt was ap- 
proved, in accordance with the recommendation of Mr. Conk- 
ling's committee. Whereupon Mr. Hayes calmly wrote: — 

December 13, 1877. — In the language of the press, "Senator Conk- 
ling has won a great victory over the Administration." My New York 

* "The Senatorial usurpation is now the question. The immediate result is 
in doubt. In the end the claim of a single Senator to control all nominations in 
his State will be found so preposterous that it will fall of its own weight." (From 
letter of Mr. Hayes to William Henry Smith, December 8, 1877.) 

"It looks as if the courtesy, esprit de corps, etc., etc., of the Senate would keep 
them in Conkling's hands. I can't think this will in the long run succeed. In 
any event, I shall go on in the path I have chosen. It is to be regretted that the 
division exists, but I do not feel blamable, and shall try not to increase it heed- 
lessly." (From letter of Mr. Hayes to General M. F. Force, December 12, 1877.) 



88 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

nominations were rejected, 31 to 25.^ But the end is not yet. I am right, 
and shall not give up the contest. 

Mr. Hayes was too good a general to abandon a campaign 
which he had carefully planned because of one defeat. Delay in 
further action might be necessary, while other subjects of grave 
interest were demanding attention, but the contest was to go on 
until victory was achieved.^ Other names might have been sent 

* Only a few Republicans voted in favor of confirmation. 

' The more ardent advocates of ideal civil service reform criticized Mr. Hayes 
because he had not at once removed the New York Custom-House officers when 
the Jay commission's first report was made. It was apparent that no reform 
could be expected from them. Probably that would have been the wiser as it 
would have been the bolder course. That Mr. Hayes was touched by this criti- 
cism is apparent from the following letter: — 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, December 31, 1877. 

My dear Sir, — I have your note of the 26th. It would gratify me, and I 
think be useful to the cause, if we could have a good long talk over the situation. 
If you can write me your views or rather precisely what ought to be said in the 
message on reform, it would aid greatly. How to appoint.'* How to remove? 
How to divorce officeholding from the active work of party politics? How to 
separate the legislative from the executive function of appointment — are the 
points. I am sorry to find in your note even a hint that you doubt my loyalty 
to the minority in this contest. Loss of confidence in those who lose a fight, or 
even a skirmish, is common; but I hope it will not be, in this case, permanent. 
— Sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

Hon. George William Curtis. 

March 12, 1878, reviewing in his diary the first year of his Administration, 
Mr. Hayes finds much achieved to improve the civil service. He writes: — 

"The end of the first year of my Administration furnishes a topic for the press. 
There is enough of favorable comment from independent papers like the New 
York Post, the [Cincinnati] Gazette, the [Cincinnati] Commercial, the Boston 
Advertiser, the Philadelphia papers, and notably the religious newspapers; but 
the body of the party papers of both parties are the other way. The main point 
is that the President has so few supporters in Congress and among the news- 
papers. 

" It is to be remarked that a non-partisan President or Administration will, 
of course, be feebly supported, if at all, in Congress or by the press. The party 
men do not like it among the Republicans, and Democrats find no interest in 
heartily supporting an Administration they did not elect. On the whole, the 
Republican party has been strengthened rather than weakened by the Adminis- 
tration. We are in a period m hen old questions are settled, and the new are not 
yet brought forward. Extreme party action if continued in such a time would 
ruin the party. Moderation is its only chance. The party out of power gains by 
all partisan conduct of those in power. On the whole, the year's work has pro- 
duced results. 

"1. Peace, safety, order in the South to an extent not known for half a cen- 
tury. 




JAMES M. OOMLY BAYAKD TAYLOR 

ANDREW D. WHITE JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL E. W. STOUGHTON 

JOHK A. KASSON EDWARD F. >'OYES JOHN WELSH 



PRESIDENT HAYES'S DIPLOMATIC APPOINTMENTS 



i 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 89 

to the Senate, but as Messrs. Roosevelt and Prince were not 
rejected because of unfitness, there was no likehhood that the 
Senate in its present temper would treat other names with favor. 
What its temper was, at least as manifested by the controlling 
spirits, is indicated by Senator Howe's bitter speech ^ late in 
March, 1878, and by Senator Sargent's effort to commit the 
Republican congressional caucus to a repudiation of the Presi- 
dent's civil service order. April 13, 1878 Mr. Hayes writes: — 

The Republican Congressmen held a caucus early this week for or- 
ganization. The feature of the affair was the failure of Senator Sargent 

"2. The riots — not a man shot, but order promptly and firmly upheld. 

"3. A vigorous and successful Mexican policy. 

"4. Civil service reforms : (a) No nepotism in executive appointments. (6) No 
machine work by federal officeholders, in caucuses or elections, (c) Congres- 
sional dictation resisted, — for the most part successfully, (d) Removals ex- 
cept for cause not made; fewer removals than under any Administration in its 
first year since John Q. Adams's, (e) Officers secure in their terms, if conduct, 
official and private, is good. 

"5. The financial management has steadily adhered to the policy of a sound 
currency, untainted credit, and a faithful fulfilment of pecuniary obligations. 

"6. The pervading sense of responsibility for faithful and honest official con- 
duct has given purity and efficiency to the service. Fewer scandals than before 
in many years. 

"7. A list of foreign appointments, and officials retained, that will compare 
well with any previous period in our history. Look at our European representa- 
tives: Welsh, England; Noyes, France; Taylor, Germany; Lowell, Spain; Marsh, 
Italy; Kasson, Austria; Stoughton, Russia; Maynard, Turkey; Read, Greece. 

"8. The most important appointments are the judicial. They are for life, 
and the judiciary of the country concerns all interests public and private. My 
appointments will bear examination: Harlan, Justice of the Supreme Court; 
Baxter and Blatchford, Circuit Court; Bancroft Davis, Court of Claims; Dis- 
trict judges in Vermont, Wisconsin, New York. 

"9. Bureau officers appointed: McCormick, Defrees, Tyner, General Le Due, 
Hawley, McPherson, Porter, Reynolds, Schofield." 

The next day he writes: — 

"The election of Governor Prescott and the administration ticket in New 
Hampshire, notwithstanding the defection of Chandler and his followers, is 
very gratifying. It encourages me to be more and more faithful in adhering to 
reform of the civil service. Let me disregard more and more ' influence ' of every 
sort, and be guided by a sense of duty alone. It is hard to have friends made 
sour because their wishes are not heeded. Newspaper and other abuse is not 
comforting, to say the least. But the second thought of the best people is I 
believe with me. — Good for New Hampshire!" 

^ "Senator Howe, of Wisconsin, made his long-heralded speech against the 
Administration. It was crammed full of hatred and prejudice. But it showed 
his malice without introducing any new fact or argument. His grievance is the 
failure to appoint him judge." (Diary, March 26, 1878.) 



90 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

to procure tlic passage of a resolution condemning the civil service order 
of the President which forbids federal officeholders from managing the 
party politics of the country. His resolutions request the President to 
rescind this order. Senator Sargent wishes the doctrine announced that 
the ninety thousand officials in the executive branch of the civil service 
shall ])articipate "in meetings, caucuses, conventions, and committees 
of a j)olitical character," This resolution of Senator Sargent and the 
speech of Senator Howe present very fairly the issue between the Senate 
and the Republican party. Sargent and Howe think that Senators should 
appoint the officeholders and that the officeholders should manage the 
politics of the country. This would be in my judgment a very unfortu- 
nate issue for the party to adopt. The doctrine of the partj' in 1876 
before the election was that officeholders should be appointed by the 
President and confirmed by the Senate; and that their whole services 
belonged to the Government. The Senators' doctrine reverses this. 
They say we will appoint the officers, and our officers shall rule the 
party, and our party shall rule the country. With this senatorial claim 
the members of the House of Representatives have very little personal 
interest. If the patronage of the Government is to be controlled by 
Congress, that branch of Congress will absorb it which has the power 
of confirmation. The Senate wUl leave to the House only what it does 
not want. 

This question of senatorial patronage is the salient point in the im- 
provement of the civil service. It is the interest of the country that its 
business shall be well done and that the area of patronage shall be lim- 
ited. But if the officeholders are to look after party politics, to make 
nominations, and to win party victories, they will be appointed not 
for fitness to discharge the legitimate duties of their offices, but for 
skill in wire-pulling. No Senator would diminish their number. If 
ninety thousand are useful, a hundred thousand will be still more 
useful. The Howe and Sargent system is that Senators shall make the 
officeholders, and that the officeholders shall make the Senators. How 
many victories can the Republican party gain on such a platform .'^ 
The watchword of the people against the officeholders would soon 
be raised, and the party on the wrong side of the question would go 
under. 

I would say the same about the order as to officeholders. It did at the 
first elections after its issue disorganize the party. The accustomed man- 
agers were many of them in office. For the most part the officeholders 
obeyed the order. This created disturbance. But the committees have 
been reorganized. Volunteers have been found to take the places of the 
regular machine men. The new blood is vigorous. The late elections 
show it. New Hampshire and Rhode Island Republicans fought suc- 
cessful battles with new men. The people have always had a certain 
feeling against the dictation of officeholders. "They ought to mind their 
own business" has often been heard, and still oftener has been thought. 
Jefferson and the earlier statesmen opposed it. Clay and Webster and 



EFFORTS FOR CIM:L SERVICE REFORM 91 

other Whig leaders were against it. Howe and Sargent do not represent 
the best sentiment of the party on this subject. I have from Milwaukee 
a protest against Senator Howe's speech. It is signed by the best Repub- 
licans in the principal city of his State. I do not hear of any popular 
endorsement in his own State of his doctrines. It is said that nine tenths 
of the Republicans of Milwaukee are opposed to them. 

I do not defend mistakes in methods. I do not insist on my own par- 
ticular plans. If better plans are proposed, I shall be ready to support 
them. But the important ends must not be abandoned. Officeholders 
must attend to the public business, and not become organized political 
machines. The appointing power may be regulated by law, to the end 
that honesty, efficiency, and economy may be promoted, but it must not 
be transferred to the Senate. It must be left where the Constitution 
placed it. Officeholders who participate actively in politics do not 
strengthen a party of principle. People resent their interference. It is 
felt that officeholders are the servants of the public, and ought not to 
assume to be masters. 

It is said that this doctrine degrades the officer. Are our present offi- 
cers degraded.'' Do you not honor the officer who faithfully attends to 
his duty.^ Do the officers feel humiliated.? I do not hear of resignations 
on this account. 

Meanwhile, further investigation was made by the Treasury 
Department of the methods pursued by the New^ York Custom- 
House in the conduct of the Government's business,^ which 
only served to confirm the findings of the Jay commission, 
though many of the recommendations of that commission had 
reluctantly been put in effect by Mr. Arthur.^ As Mr. Sherman 
later informed the Senate: "A very brief experience proved that 
any hope of carrying out any systematic reforms or changes in 
the mode of conducting the business would be abortive while the 
collector held his position. The same system, the same persons, 

^ Among the abuses prevailing in the New York Custom-House were excessive 
damage allowances and undervaluation of imports. These led to great complaints 
from merchants of other cities, who found it impossible to import goods directly 
and compete with New York importers. William Henry Smith, collector at 
Chicago, was largely instrumental in directing attention to these abuses and 
getting them corrected. 

* "The President was strongly of the opinion, upon the reports of the Jay 
commission, that the public interests demanded a change in the leading offices 
in the New York Custom-House. I preferred to try to execute the reforms pro- 
posed with Mr. Arthur in office, rather than a stranger. The President acqui- 
esced in this view, but gradually it became evident that neither Mr. Arthur nor 
Mr. Cornell was in sympathy with the recommendations of the commission, 
and could and did obstruct their fair execution." (John Sherman, January 15, 
1879, to the Senate.) 



92 RUTHERFORD BIRCH.mD HAYES 

the same influences prevailed as before." ^ Consequently, soon 
after the adjournment of Congress the President, in midsum- 
mer, 1878, exercised his right to suspend the discredited officers, 
putting E. A. Merritt in Mr. Arthur's place ^ and S. W. Burt in 
Mr. Cornell's place. Both appointments were in the nature of 
promotions, Mr. Merritt having, as Surveyor of the Port, in- 
troduced many reforms since his appointment in the December 
preceding, and Mr. Burt having, as Mr. Cornell's deputy, been 
performing practically all the duties of the office. Charles K. 
Graham was appointed to succeed General Merritt as Surveyor 
of the Port. The action of the President was applauded by all 
intelligent friends of reform. The partisans of Conkling, on the 
other hand, broke into a very frenzy of denunciation and abuse. ^ 
The new officers proceeded at once to introduce more business- 
like methods, and the improvement in the service was already 
noteworthy by the time Congress reassembled in December. 
The President at once sent his nominations to the Senate. Mr. 
Conkling and the spoilsmongers again sought to defeat the Pres- 
ident. In his diary, December 16, Mr. Hayes writes: — 

The political event of the last week is the opposition of Conkling to 
the New York appointments. This is a test case. The Senators gener- 
ally frefer to confirm Merritt and Graham. But many, perhaps a ma- 
jority, will not oppose Conkling on the question. Senatorial courtesy, 
the senatorial prerogative, and the fear of Conkling's vengeance in 
future control them. He is, like Butler, more powerful because he is 
vindictive and not restrained by conscience. The most noticeable 
weakness of Congressmen is their timidity. They fear the use to be 
made of their "record." They are afraid of making enemies. They do 
not vote according to their convictions from fear of consequences. 

Conkling and his confederates were able to delay action for 
two months, during which time discussion of the whole episode 
became a burden to the public mind. Finally, January 31, the 
President sent to the Senate a special message, transmitting a 
letter of Secretary Sherman which clearly set forth the reasons 
for the suspension of Messrs. Arthur and Cornell. The message, 

1 Ibid. 

2 Theodore Roosevelt had died meanwhile, or he might have been reappointed. 
* "The supporters of Senator Conkling burst into furious denunciation of 

the act as a gross insult to the Senate, and a treachery, a defiance, a stab in the 
back, a foul blow, an outrage, a persecution, and every other kind of infamous 
proceeding toward the Senator." {Harper's Weekly, August 18, 1878.) 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 93 

which forcibly presented the President's views, was as fol- 
lows : — 
To THE Senate of the United States: — 

I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, in rela- 
tion to the suspension of the late Collector and Naval Officer of the Port 
of New York, with accompanying documents. 

In addition thereto I respectfully submit the following observations : 

The custom-house in New York collects more than two thirds of all 
the customs revenues of the Government. Its administration is a matter, 
not of local interest merely, but is of great importance to the people of 
the whole country For a long period of time it has been used to manage 
and control political affairs. The officers suspended by me are, and for 
several years have been, engaged in the active personal management of 
the party politics of the city and State of New York. The duties of the 
offices held by them have been regarded as of subordinate importance 
to their partisan work. Their offices have been conducted as part of the 
political machinery under their control. They have made the custom- 
house a centre of partisan political management. 

The custom-house should be a business office. It should be conducted 
on business principles. General James, the postmaster of New York 
City, writing on the subject, says: "The post-office is a business institu- 
tion, and should be run as such. It is my deliberate judgment that I and 
my subordinates can do more for the party of our choice by giving the 
people of this city a good and efficient postal service than bj' controlling 
primaries or dictating nominations." The New York Custom-House 
should be placed on the same footing with the New York Post-Office. 
But under the suspended officers the custom-house would be one of the 
principal political agencies in the State of New York. To change this, 
they profess to believe, would be, in the language of Mr. Cornell, in his 
response, "to surrender their personal and political rights." 

Convinced that the people of New York, and of the country gener- 
ally, wish the New York Custom-House to be administered solely with a 
view to the public interest, it is my purpose to do all in my power to 
introduce into this great office the reforms which the country desires. 

With my information of the facts in the case, and with a deep sense 
of the responsible obligation imposed upon me by the Constitution, to 
"take care that the laws be faithfully executed," I regard it as my plain 
duty to suspend the officers in question, and to make the nominations 
now before the Senate, in order that this important office may be hon- 
estly and efficiently administered. 

R. B. Hayes. 

Executive Mansion, January 31, 1879. 

Two days later (February 2) the President wrote of this 
controversy in his diary : — 

The contest in the Senate on the confirmation of my New York 



94 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

nominations for the customs offices is close and as yet undecided. If 
confirmed against the votes and efforts of both of the New York Senators, 
the decision will be of great value. It will go far to settle — 

1. The right of Senators to dictate appointments. 

2. It will decide in favor of keeping the offices out of politics. 

In that case I will lay down the law to my New York officers accord- 
ing to the doctrines of the strictest sect of civil service reformers. Two 
or three officers holding confidential relations with the chief officers may 
be left to their personal preference, but the great mass of appointments 
must be impersonal, and on principles that will stand the test. I shall 
say to General Merritt: Disregard all influence, all solicitation, all pres- 
sure — even if it come from me, or his immediate chief, the Secretary of 
the Treasury. In this way the question can be fairly tested, and the 
value of the civil service rules have an impartial trial in this, the most 
important office in the country. 

I put the issue on solid grounds in a short message which I sent to the 
Senate on Friday, 31st. In the preliminary skirmishing we have had 
slightly the advantage, and we seem to be gaining. Judge Matthews 
leads on our side. Postponement has seemed to be our policy. Matthews 
beat Conkling 28 to 26 last Monday on postponement, and 35 to 26 
last Friday on the same question. The decisive vote will be taken 
to-morrow, Monday. 

February 3, after a prolonged debate, the "courtesy of the 
Senate" was invoked in vain, a majority of the Senators be- 
came reasonable, and the nominations were confirmed.^ In all 
this controversy the personal integrity and honesty of Messrs. 
Arthur and Cornell were never questioned. But they were alike 
the victims and the exponents of an evil system whose wicked- 
ness and perversion they not only would not see, but even 
actually defended as proper and righteous. There could be no 
hope of real reform under the direction of men who honestly 
believed that the old system was founded on correct principles, 
and who regarded the efforts to free it from politics and to make 
it solely an efficient instrument of public service as fantastic, 
visionary, and mischievous. 

The President immediately wrote the following letter to 
General Merritt: — 

* "We are successful. The New York nominations, Merritt and Burt, were 
confirmed against Arthur and Cornell after five or six hours' debate by a vote 
of 33 to 24. Thirteen Republicans voted to confirm. There were two or three 
others who were of the same mind, but were controlled by promises. One or 
two would have voted with us if their votes had been needed." (Diary, February 
4, 1879.) > 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 95 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, February 4, 1879. 

Dear General, — I congratulate you on your confirmation. It is a 
great gratification to your friends, very honorable to you, and will prove, 
I believe, of signal service to the country. 

My desire is that your office shall be conducted on strictly business 
principles, and according to the rules which were adopted, on the rec- 
ommendation of the Civil Service Commission, by the Administration 
of General Grant. In making appointments and removals of subordi- 
nates, you should be perfectly independent of mere influence. Neither 
my recommendation nor that of the Secretary of the Treasury, nor the 
recommendation of any member of Congress, or other influential person, 
should be specially regarded. Let appointments and removals be made 
on business principles, and by fixed rules. There must be, I assume, a 
few places the duties of which are confidential, and which would be filled 
by those whom you personally know to be trustworthy ; but restrict the 
area of patronage to the narrowest possible limits. Let no man be put 
out merely because he is a friend of the late collector, and no man be 
put in merely because he is our friend. I am glad you approve of the 
message sent to the Senate. I wish you to see that all that is exj^ressed 
in it, and all that is implied in it, is faithfully carried out. 

With the assurance of my entire confidence, I remain, sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

General E. A. Merritt, 

Collector of Customs, New York. 

Briefer letters to similar eflfeet were sent to Messrs. Burt and 
Graham,^ and the three officers worked in harmony to carry 
out the wishes of the President. ^ For the remainder of his 

^ The letter to Mr. Burt was as follows : — 

6th February, 1879. 

My dear Sir, — I beg you to receive my sincere congratulations on your 
confirmation. My desire is that the result may prove advantageous to the coun- 
try. I have written General Merritt that I wish the office conducted on business 
principles, and under sound civil service rules. You were on the commission 
under General Grant. I therefore request you to have a conference with General 
Merritt and General Graham and agree upon a body of rules for the government 
of your offices, based on the rules reported by the commission, with such altera- 
tions as you deem advisable. — Sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

To Hon. Silas W. Burt. 

For the " Regulations Governing Appointments in the Customs Service and 
Subtreasury in the City of New York," which were formulated at this time 
and approved by President Hayes March 6, 1879, see Richardson, Messages 
and Papers of the Presidents, vol. vii, p. 550, et seq. 

^ "It has been a very popular fashion to sneer at the 'reforms' of this Ad- 
ministration. Let us see. Is it nothing that the Executive absolutely declines 



96 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Administration the New York Custom-House was freer from 
politics, was more nearly and strictly conducted on business 
principles, than ever before or much of the time since. ^ 

Thomas L. James, postmaster of New York, whose pregnant 
words 2 Mr. Hayes had quoted in his message of January 31, 
had for some time been observing practical reform principles 

congressional dictation in appointments, and that members of Congress under- 
stand it? Is it nothing that the monstrous party extortion called 'voluntary 
contributions' for elections has been practically abolished, so far as the Adminis- 
tration is concerned? Is it nothing that in the two great public ofEces in New 
York — the custom-house and the post-office — appointments and promotions 
are uniformly made upon ascertained merit, and not by personal or political 
favor? These things have been done, and it is no answer to say that other things 
have not been done. They are done, not, indeed, by a law^ of Congress, but by 
executive choice, and they are immense gains to the cause of better politics, 
because they demonstrate clearly the perfect practicability of a sound system." 
(George William Curtis, Harper s Weekly, May 31, 1879.) 

1 General Merritt in his final report (July 20, 1881) of his service as collector 
was able to say: — 

"It has also been our purpose to elevate the standard of the service as much 
as possible by considerate and reformatory discipline. I feel justified in stating 
that there has been a decided improvement in that regard. Fewer complaints 
have been made against officers, and the business community has in various 
ways expressed its appreciation of the improved morale of the force. . . . 

"The civil service policy of President Hayes, which was embodied in the rules 
promulgated by him to govern the appointments in the custom-house, has in a 
large measure served the purpose intended. I am of the opinion that, applying 
the simple test of efficiency and character as compared with appointments here- 
tofore made, it may be declared a complete success. While it is possible for the 
nominating officer, if unembarrassed by political considerations, to select com- 
petent and trustworthy men, yet with the desire to do so, he would still often be 
open to the charge of favoritism, and it is practically impossible to become suffi- 
ciently acquainted with applicants at the outset to determine as to the wisdom 
of their appointment. 

"The present rules have at least one merit, that the tests, whether the best 
that can be devised or not, are fair and absolutely impartial. Rules, however, to 
have the fullest measure of respect, should apply to all branches of the civil serv- 
ice under similar conditions. Permanency of tenure is an important considera- 
tion if the employee is of proved competency and trustworthiness." 

The New York Tribune (July 30, 1881), commenting on this report, declared: 
" No other collector has ever made so satisfactory a showing. . . . Judge Robert- 
son will assume control of a force well disciplined and equipped for ckity, and 
a force enlightened by an experimental knowledge of the fact that the business 
of the Government can be transacted successfully upon the same principles 
which are recognized as the foundations of success in the ordinary business of 
human life." 

* These words were taken from a letter, written by Mr. James, during the 
preceding political campaign, to George William Curtis, which Mr. Curtis sent 
to the President. 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 97 

in the conduct of his office. These principles were now embodied 
in a code of rules, governing appointments, promotions, and dis- 
missals, which was approved by the President and ordered to be 
enforced. A copy of this code was sent to the heads of other 
large offices in the civil service, to be adopted by them with such 
modification as might seem advisable in the different branches 
of the service. 

It had been Mr. Hayes's purpose, as intimated in his first 
annual message, to prepare a special message on the improve- 
ment of the civil service. Frequent references are made to the 
subject in his diary and data were assembled. But for some 
reason the project was given up. In his second annual message, 
indeed, no reference was made to the subject, for the reason, 
possibly, that it was felt to be quite useless at that time to reiter- 
ate views that were perfectly well known; or it may even have 
been thought that a recurrence to the subject at that particular 
juncture might serve further to arouse the antipathy of the 
Senators to whom the New York appointments were presently 
to be submitted. Increased experience in dealing with the prob- 
lem in its many ramifications made the difficulty of its perma- 
nent solution constantly clearer to the President's mind. A few 
days after the letter to General Merritt (February 14), the diary 
has the following: — 

There can be no complete and permanent reform of the civil service 
until public opinion emancipates Congressmen from all control and 
influence over government patronage. Legislation is required to estab- 
lish the reform. No proper legislation is to be expected as long as mem- 
bers of Congress are engaged in procuring offices for their constituents. 
It is not for me to lay down rules for the personal conduct of members of 
Congress on this subject. I shall certainly give due weight to informa- 
tion received from Congressmen, whether it is volunteered or given on 
my request. The end the public are interested in is the independence of 
Congressmen of all responsibility for appointments, and this depends 
largely on the people themselves. Let government appointments be 
wholly separated from congressional influence and control except as 
provided in the Constitution and all needed reforms of the service will 
speedily and surely follow. Impressed with the vital importance of good 
administration in all departments of Government, I must do the best I 
can, unaided by public opinion, and opposed in and out of Congress by a 
large part of the most powerful men in my party. I have written a letter 
to General Merritt which taken with my message embodies the leading 



98 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

principles on which I desire the officers appointed by me to administer 
their offices. I will have them printed together, and send them to im- 
portant officers, as occasion seems to demand. 

In his third annual message, December 1, 1879, Mr. Hayes 
devoted much space to an earnest discussion of the evils of the 
spoils system and to a summary of the results achieved, under 
difficulties, by the application of reform principles to the con- 
duct of the public service in many of the principal offices. And 
he made an eloquent plea for further legislation to support the 
reform work and to make it permanent. The portion of his 
message given to this topic was as follows : — 

In a former message I invited the attention of Congress to the subject 
of the reformation of the civil service of the Government, and expressed 
the intention of transmitting to Congress, as early as practicable, a 
report upon this subject by the chairman of the Civil Service Commis- 
sion. 

In view of the facts that, during a considerable period, the Govern- 
ment of Great Britain has been dealing with administrative problems 
and abuses, in various particulars analogous to those presented in this 
country, and that in recent years the measures adopted were understood 
to have been effective and in every respect highly satisfactory, I thought 
it desirable to have fuller information upon the subject, and accordingly 
requested the chairman of the Civil Service Commission to make a 
thorough investigation for this purpose. The result has been an elabo- 
rate and comprehensive report. 

The report sets forth the history of the partisan spoils system in Great 
Britain, and of the rise and fall of the parliamentary patronage, and of 
official interference with the freedom of elections. It shows that after 
long trials of various kinds of examinations, those which are competitive 
and open on equal terms to all, and which are carried on imder the 
superintendence of a single commission, have, with great advantage, 
been established as conditions of admission to almost every official 
place in the subordinate administration of that countrj' and of British 
India. The completion of the report, owing to the extent of the labor 
involved in its preparation, and the omission of Congress to make any 
provision either for the compensation or the expenses of the Commis- 
sion, has been postponed until the present time. It is herewith trans- 
mitted to Congress. 

Wliile the reform measures of another Government are of no authority 
for us, they are entitled to influence, to the extent to which their intrin- 
sic wisdom and their adaptation to our institutions and social life may 
commend them to our consideration. 

The views I have heretofore expressed concerning the defects and 
abuses in our civil administration remain unchanged, except in so far 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 99 

as an enlarged experience has deepened my sense of the duty both of 
officers and of the people themselves to cooperate for their removal. 
The grave evils and perils of a partisan spoils system of appointment to 
office and of office tenure are now generally recognized. In the resolu- 
tions of the great parties, in the reports of Departments, in the debates 
and proceedings of Congress, in the messages of Executives, the gravity 
of these evils has been pointed out and the need of their reform has been 
admitted. 

To command the necessary support, every measure of reform must be 
based on common right and justice, and must be compatible with the 
healthy existence of great parties, which are inevitable and essential in a 
free state. 

WTben the people have approved a policy at a national election, confi- 
dence on the part of the officers they have selected, and of the advisers 
who, in accordance with our political institutions, should be consulted, 
in the policy which it is their duty to carry into effect, is indispensable. 
It is eminently proper that they should explain it before the people, as 
well as illustrate its spirit in the performance of their official duties. 

Very different considerations apply to the greater number of those 
who fill the subordinate places in the civil service. Their responsibility 
is to their superiors in official position. It is their duty to obey the legal 
instructions of those upon whom that authority is devolved, and their 
best public service consists in the discharge of their functions irrespec- 
tive of partisan politics. Their duties are the same, whatever party is in 
power and whatever policy prevails. As a consequence, it follows that 
their tenure of office should not depend on the prevalence of any policy 
or the supremacy of any party, but should be determined by their capac- 
ity to serve the people most usefully, quite irrespective of partisan inter- 
ests. The same considerations that should govern the tenure should also 
prevail in the appointment, discipline, and removal of these subordi- 
nates. The authority of appointment and removal is not a perquisite 
which may be used to aid a friend or reward a partisan, but is a trust to 
be exercised in the public interest, under all the sanctions which attend 
the obligation to apply the public funds only for public purposes. 

Every citizen has an equal right to the honor and profit of entering 
the public service of his country. The only just ground of discrimination 
is the measure of character and capacity he has to make that service 
most useful to the people. Except in cases where, upon just and recog- 
nized principles, — as upon the theory of pensions, — offices, and promo- 
tions are bestowed as rewards for past services, their bestowal upon any 
theory which disregards personal merit is an act of injustice to the citi- 
zen, as well as a breach of that trust subject to which the appointing 
power is held. 

In the light of these principles, it becomes of great importance to 
provide just and adequate means, especially for every department and 
large administrative office, where personal discrimination on the part of 
its head is not practicable, for ascertaining those qualifications to which 



100 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

appointments and removals should have reference. To fail to provide 
such means is not only to deny the opportunity of ascertaining the 
facts upon which the most righteous claim to ofSce depends, but, of 
necessity, to discourage all worthy aspirants by handing over appoint- 
ments and removals to mere influence and favoritism. If it is the right of 
the worthiest claimant to gain the appointment, and the interest of the 
people to bestow it upon him, it would seem clear that a wise and just 
method of ascertaining personal fitness for office must be an important 
and permanent function of every just and wise government. It has long 
since become impossible, in the great offices, for those having the duty of 
nomination and appointment to personally examine into the individual 
qualifications of more than a small proportion of those seeking office, 
and, with the enlargement of the civil service, that proportion must 
continue to become less. 

In the earlier years of the Government, the subordinate oflSces were so 
few in number that it was quite easy for those making appointments and 
promotions to personally ascertain the merits of candidates. Party 
managers and methods had not then become powerful agencies of coer- 
cion, hostile to the free and just exercise of the appointing power. 

A large and responsible part of the duty of restoring the civil service 
to the desired purity and eflSciency rests upon the President, and it is 
my purpose to do what is within my power to advance such prudent 
and gradual measures of reform as will most surely and rapidly bring 
about that radical change of system essential to make our administrative 
methods satisfactory to a free and intelligent people. By a proper ex- 
ercise of authority, it is in the power of the Executive to do much to 
promote such a reform. But it cannot be too clearly understood that 
nothing adequate can be accomplished without cooperation on the part 
of Congress and considerate and intelligent support among the people. 
Reforms which challenge the generally accepted theories of parties and 
demand changes in the methods of departments are not the work of a 
day. Their permanent foundations must be laid in sound principles and 
in an experience which demonstrates their wisdom and exposes the errors 
of their adversaries. Every worthy officer desires to make his oflScial 
action a gain and an honor to his country, but the people themselves, 
far more than their officers in public station, are interested in a pure, 
economical, and vigorous administration. 

By laws enacted in 18.53 and 1855, and now in substance incorporated 
in the Revised Statutes, the practice of arbitrary appointments to the 
several subordinate grades in the great Departments was condemned, 
and examinations, as to capacity, to be conducted by departmental 
boards of examiners, were provided for and made conditions of admis- 
sion to the public service. These statutes are a decision by Congress 
that examinations of some sort, as to attainments and capacity, are 
essential to the well-being of the public service. The important ques- 
tions since the enactment of these laws have been as to the character of 
these examinations, and whether official favor and partisan influence, or 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 101 

common right and merit, were to control the access to the examinations. 
In practice, these examinations have not always been open to worthy 
persons generally who might wish to be examined. Official favoritism 
and partisan influence, as a rule, appear to have designated those who 
alone were permitted to go before the examining boards, subjecting even 
the examiners to a pressure from the friends of the candidates very diffi- 
cult to resist. As a consequence, the standard of admission fell below 
that which the public interest demanded. It was also almost inevitable 
that a system which provided for various separate boards of examiners, 
with no common supervision or uniform method of procedure, should 
result in confusion, inconsistency, and inadequate tests of capacity 
highly detrimental to the public interests. A further and more radical 
change was obviously required. 

In the annual message of December, 1870, my predecessor declared 
that — "There is no duty which so much embarrasses the Executive 
and heads of Departments as that of appointments ; nor is there any 
such arduous and thankless labor imposed on Senators and Represent- 
atives as that of finding places for constituents. The present system 
does not secure the best men, and often not even fit men for the public 
places. The elevation and purification of the civil service of the Gov- 
ernment will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the United 
States." Congress accordingly passed the act, approved March 3, 1871, 
"to regulate the civil service of the United States and promote the 
efficiency thereof," giving the necessary authority to the Executive to 
inaugurate a civil service reform. 

Acting under this statute, which was interpreted as intended to secure 
a system of just and effectual examinations under uniform supervision, 
a number of eminently competent persons were selected for the purpose, 
who entered with zeal upon the discharge of their duties, prepared, with 
an intelligent appreciation of the requirements of the service, the regula- 
tions contemplated, and took charge of the examinations, and who, in 
their capacity as a board, have been known as the "Civil Service Com- 
mission." Congress for two years appropriated the money needed for 
the compensation and for the expense of carrying on the work of the 
commission. 

It appears from the report of the commission, submitted to the Presi- 
dent in April, 1874, that examinations had been held in various sections 
of the country, and that an appropriation of about twenty-five thousand 
dollars would be required to meet the annual expenses, including salaries, 
involved in discharging the duties of the commission. The report was 
transmitted to Congress by special message of April 18, 1874, with the 
following favorable comment upon the labors of the commission: "If 
sustained by Congress, I have no doubt the rules can, after the experi- 
ence gained, be so improved and enforced as to still more materially 
benefit the public service and relieve the Executive, members of Con- 
gress, and the heads of Departments, from influences prejudicial to 
good administration. The rules, as they have hitherto been enforced, 



102 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

have resulted beneficially, as is shown by the opinions of the members 
of the Cabinet and their subordinates in the Departments, and in that 
opinion I concur." And in the annual message of December of the same 
year similar views are expressed, and an appropriation for continuing 
the work of the commission again advised. 

The appropriation was not made, and, as a consequence, the active 
work of the commission was suspended, leaving the commission itself 
still in existence. Without the means, therefore, of causing qualifica- 
tions to be tested in any systematic manner, or of securing for the 
public service the advantages of competition upon any extensive plan, I 
recommended in my annual message of December, 1877, the making 
of an appropriation for the resumption of the work of the commission. 

In the meantime, however, competitive examinations under many 
embarrassments have been conducted within limited spheres in the 
executive Departments in Washington, and in a number of the custom- 
houses and post-offices of the principal cities of the country', with a view 
to fvu-ther test their eflFects, and, in every instance, they have been found 
to be as salutary as they are stated to have been under the Administra- 
tion of my predecessor. I think the economy, purity, and efficiency of 
the public service would be greatly promoted by their systematic intro- 
duction, wherever practicable, throughout the entire civil service of the 
Government, together with ample provision for their general supervi- 
sion, in order to secure consistency and uniform justice. 

Reports from the Secretary of the Interior, from the Postmaster- 
General, from the Postmaster in the city of New York, where such ex- 
aminations have been some time on trial, and also from the Collector 
of the Port, the Naval Officer, and the Surveyor in that city, and from 
the postmasters and collectors in several of the other large cities, show 
that the competitive system, where applied, has, in various ways, con- 
tributed to improve the public service. 

The reports show that the results have been salutary in a marked 
degree, and that the general application of similar rules cannot fail to 
be of decided benefit to the service. 

The reports of the government officers in the city of New York, 
especially, bear decided testimony to the utility of open competitive ex- 
aminations in their respective offices, showing that — "These examina- 
tions, and the excellent qualifications of those admitted to the service 
through them, have had a marked incidental effect upon the persons 
previously in the service, and particularly upon those aspiring to promo- 
tion. There has been on the part of these latter an increased interest 
in the work, and a desire to extend acquaintance witli it bejond the par- 
ticular desk occupied, and thus the morale of the entire force has been 
raised. . . . The examinations have been attended by many citizens 
who have had an opportunity to thoroughly investigate the scope and 
character of the tests and the method of determining the results, and 
those visitors have, without exception, approved the methods employed, 
and several of them have publicly attested their favorable opinion." 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 103 

Upon such considerations, I deem it my duty to renew the recommen- 
dation contained in my annual message of December, 1877, requesting 
Congress to make the necessary appropriation for the resumption of the 
work of the Civil Service Commission. Economy will be promoted by 
authorizing a moderate compensation to persons in the public service 
who may perform extra labor upon or under the commission, as the 
Executive may direct. 

I am convinced that if a just and adequate test of merit is enforced for 
admission to the public service and in making promotions, such abuses 
as removals without good cause, and partisan and official interference 
with the proper exercise of the appointing power, will in large measure 
disappear. 

There are other administrative abuses to which the attention of Con- 
gress should be asked in this connection. Mere partisan appointments, 
and the constant peril of removal without cause, very naturally lead to 
an absorbing and mischievous political activity on the part of those thus 
appointed, which not only interferes with the due discharge of official 
duty, but is incompatible with the freedom of elections. Not without 
warrant, in the views of several of my predecessors in the Presidential 
office, and directly within the law of 1871, already cited, I endeavored 
by regulation, made on the 22d day of June, 1877, to put some reason- 
able limits to such abuses. It may not be easy, and it may never perhaps 
be necessary, to define with precision the proper limit of political action 
on the part of federal officers. But while their right to hold and freely 
express their opinions cannot be questioned, it is very plain that they 
should neither be allowed to devote to other subjects the time needed 
for the proper discharge of their official duties, nor to use the authority 
of their office to enforce their own opinions, or to coerce the political 
action of those who hold different opinions. 

Reasons of justice and public policy, quite analogous to those which 
forbid the use of official power for the oppression of the private citizen, 
impose upon the Government the duty of protecting its officers and 
agents from arbitrary exactions. In whatever aspect considered, the 
practice of making levies for party purposes upon the salaries of officers 
is highly demoralizing to the public service and discreditable to the 
country. Though an officer should be as free as any other citizen to give 
his own money in aid of his opinions or his party, he should also be as 
free as any other citizen to refuse to make such gifts. If salaries are but 
a fair compensation for the time and labor of the officer, it is gross injus- 
tice to levy a tax upon them. If they are made excessive in order that 
they may bear the tax, the excess is an indirect robbery of the public 
funds. 

I recommend, therefore, such a revision and extension of present 
statutes as shall secure to those in every grade of official life or public 
employment the protection with which a great and enlightened nation 
should guard those who are faithful in its service. 



104 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

It is hardly necessary to recall that Congress was still out of 
sympathy with the movement for reform and refused to take 
any action. For the time being popular interest in the cause 
appeared to be so little excited that in 1880 the platform 
committee of the Republican National Convention ignored the 
subject and its failure was remedied only after debate by the 
body of the convention; while the Democratic National Conven- 
tion made no pronouncement whatever for reform. Mr. Hayes, 
however, remained true to his principles, and in his final mes- 
sage, December 6, 1880, he made one more resolute attempt to 
stir Congress to action. Speaking out of the fulness of experi- 
ence, he said : — 

In my former annual messages I have asked the attention of Con- 
gress to the urgent necessity of a reformation of the civil service system 
of the Government. My views concerning the dangers of patronage, 
or appointments for personal or partisan considerations, have been 
strengthened by my observation and experience in the executive oflBce, 
and I believe these dangers threaten the stability of the Government. 
Abuses so serious in their nature cannot be permanently tolerated. They 
tend to become more alarming with the enlargement of administrative 
service, as the growth of the country in population increases the number 
of officers and placemen employed. 

The reasons are imperative for the adoption of fixed rules for the 
regulation of appointments, promotions, and removals, establishing a 
uniform method, having exclusively in view, in every instance, the at- 
tainment of the best qualifications for the position in question. Such a 
method alone is consistent with the equal rights of all citizens, and the 
most economical and efficient administration of the public business. 

Competitive examinations, in aid of impartial appointments and 
promotions, have been conducted for some years past in several of the 
executive Departments, and by my direction this system has been 
adopted in the custom-houses and post-offices of the larger cities of the 
country. In the city of New York over two thousand positions in the 
civil service have been subject, in their appointments and tenure of 
place, to the operation of published rules for this purpose, during the 
past two years. The results of these practical trials have been very sat- 
isfactory, and have confirmed my opinion in favor of this system of 
selection. All are subjected to the same tests, and the result is free from 
prejudice by personal favor or partisan influence. It secures for the posi- 
tion applied for the best qualifications attainable among the competing 
applicants. It is an effectual protection from the pressure of importu- 
nity which, under any other course pursued, largely exacts the time and 
attention of appointing officers, to their great detriment in the discharge 
of other official duties, preventing the abuse of the service for the mere 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 105 

furtherance of private or party purposes, and leaving the employee of 
the Government, freed from the obligations imposed by patronage, to 
depend solely upon merit for retention and advancement, and with this 
constant incentive to exertion and improvement. 

These invaluable results have been attained in a high degree in the 
offices where the rules for appointment by competitive examination 
have been applied. 

A method which has so approved itself by experimental tests, at 
points where such tests may be fairly considered conclusive, should be 
extended to all subordinate positions under the Government. I believe 
that a strong and growing public sentiment demands immediate meas- 
ures for securing and enforcing the highest possible efficiency in the civil 
service and its protection from recognized abuses, and that the experi- 
ence referred to has demonstrated the feasibility of such measures. 

The examinations in the custom-houses and post-offices have been 
held under many embarrassments and without provision for compensa- 
tion for the extra labor performed by the officers who have conducted 
them, and whose commendable interest in the improvement of the pub- 
lic service has induced this devotion of time and labor without pecuniary 
reward. A continuance of these labors gratuitously ought not to be 
expected, and without an appropriation by Congress for compensation, 
it is not practicable to extend the system of examinations generally 
throughout the civil service. It is also highly important that all such 
examinations should be conducted upon a uniform system and under 
general supervision. Section 1753 of the Revised Statutes authorizes 
the President to prescribe the regulations for admission to the civil serv- 
ice of the United States, and for this purpose to employ suitable per- 
sons to conduct the requisite inquiries with reference to "the fitness of 
each candidate, in respect to age, health, character, knowledge, and 
ability, for the branch of service into which he seeks to enter"; but 
the law is practically inoperative for want of the requisite appropria- 
tion. 

I therefore recommend an appropriation of twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars per annum to meet the expenses of a commission, to be appointed 
by the President in accordance with the terms of this section, whose 
duty it shall be to devise a just, uniform, and efficient system of com- 
petitive examinations, and to supervise the application of the same 
throughout the entire civil service of the Government. I am persuaded 
that the facilities which such a commission will afford for testing the 
fitness of those who apply for office will not only be as welcome a relief 
to members of Congress as it will be to the President and heads of De- 
partments, but that it will also greatly tend to remove the causes of 
embarrassment which now inevitably and constantly attend the conflict- 
ing claims of patronage between the legislative and executive depart- 
ments. The most effectual check upon the pernicious competition of 
influence and official favoritism, in the bestowal of office, will be the 
substitution of an open competition of merit between the applicants, in 



106 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

which every one can make his own record with the assurance that his 
success will depend upon this alone. 

I also recommend such legislation as, while leaving every officer as 
free as any other citizen to express his political opinions and to use his 
means for their advancement, shall also enable him to feel as safe as 
any private citizen in refusing all demands upon his salary for political 
purposes. A law which should thus guarantee true liberty and justice 
to all who are engaged in the public service, and likewise contain strin- 
gent provisions against the use of official authority to coerce the political 
action of private citizens or of official subordinates, is greatly to be 
desired. 

The most serious obstacle, however, to an improvement of the civil 
service, and especially to a reform in the method of appointment and 
removal, has been found to be the practice, under what is known as the 
spoils system, by which the appointing power has been so largely en- 
croached upon by members of Congress. The first step in the reform 
of the civil service must be a complete divorce between Congress and 
the Executive in the matter of appointments. The corrupting doctrine 
that " to the victors belong the spoils " is inseparable from congressional 
patronage as the established rule and practice of parties in power. It 
comes to be understood by applicants for office, and by the people gen- 
erally, that Representatives and Senators are entitled to disburse the 
patronage of their respective districts and States. It is not necessary to 
recite at length the evils resulting from this invasion of the executive 
functions. The true principles of government on the subject of appoint- 
ments to office, as stated in the national conventions of the leading par- 
ties of the country, have again and again been approved by the Ameri- 
can people, and have not been called in question in any quarter. These 
authentic expressions of public opinion upon this all-important subject 
are the statement of principles that belong to the constitutional struc- 
ture of the Government. 

" Under the Constitution, the President and heads of Departments are 
to make nominations for office. The Senate is to advise and consent to 
appointments, and the House of Representatives is to accuse and prose- 
cute faithless officers. The best interests of the public service demand 
that these distinctions be respected; that Senators and Representatives, 
who may be judges and accusers, should not dictate appointments to 
office." To this end the cooperation of the legislative department of the 
Government is required alike by the necessities of the case and by public 
opinion. Members of Congress will not be relieved from the demands 
made upon them with reference to appointments to office until, by legis- 
lative enactment, the pernicious practice is condemned and forbidden. 

It is, therefore, recommended that an act be passed defining the rela- 
tions of members of Congress with respect to appointments to office by 
the President; and I also recommend that the provisions of section 1707, 
and of the sections following, of the Revised Statutes, comprising the 
Tenure-of-Officc Act of March 2, 1867, be repealed. 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 107 

Believing that to reform the system and methods of the civil service 
in our country is one of the highest and most imperative duties of states- 
manship, and that it can be permanently done only by the cooperation 
of the legislative and executive departments of the Government, I again 
commend the whole subject to your considerate attention. 

There could be no hope of legislation on so important a topic 
in the short term of Congress, even had there been any disposi- 
tion on the part of the legislators to consider the matter. And 
no such disposition existed. So the Administration came to a 
close without the slightest action having been taken by the 
legislative branch of the Government to forward and make 
permanent the efforts to introduce rational methods in the civil 
service of the country which the Executive steadily pursued. 
During all of Mr. Hayes's term the Democrats were in control 
of the House of Representatives; during the last two years also 
of the Senate. The Democrats, by their platform of 1876, were 
as much pledged to a reform of the civil service as were the 
Republicans, One might have supposed, therefore, that condi- 
tions were favorable for the adoption of a reform to which both 
parties were formally committed. But the practical politicians 
in both parties were wedded to the spoils system, and would 
take no step toward its elimination except under the whip and 
spur of constraining public opinion. This was felt two years 
later ^ when (January, 1883) the Pendleton Bill — a genuine 
civil service reform measure — was adopted. ^ But even now, 
after all these years, much as has been done to establish the 
merit system, the ideal condition of the civil service toward 
which Mr. Hayes aspired, has by no means been achieved. 

^ President Arthur, anything but a civil service reformer, in his message of 
December 4, 1882, recognized the pressure of public opinion for reform, saying: 
"There has meanwhile [within the preceding twelve months] been an increase 
in the public interest in that subject; and the people of the country, apparently 
without distinction of party, have in various ways and upon frequent occasions 
given expression to their earnest wish for prompt and definite action. In my 
judgment such action should no longer be postponed." 

2 Dorman B. Eaton, the eminent civil service reformer, wrote in a letter to 
Mr. Hayes, January 27, 1883: "I hold it but due to you to say that, but for your 
courage and constancy in sustaining the merit system in the custom-house and 
post-office in New York, the reform could not have reached its present stage at 
this time. The examples of these offices, as spread before the country in your 
messages, have been schools of political education and an answer to misrepre- 
sentations and prejudices." 



108 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Senators and Congressmen still control patronage in the in- 
terest of tlieir machines; men are often appointed to place, not 
simply on the ground of fitness, but rather as a reward for politi- 
cal services; officeholders are still busy in manipulating primaries 
and controlling conventions — local, state, and even national; 
and by many and various devices "voluntary" contributions 
to the party exchequers are extorted from officers and clerks. 
The wonder cannot be that Mr. Hayes did not accomplish more, 
but that he was able in the face of such adverse circumstances 
— lack of sympathy and opposition in his own party — to 
accomplish so much. 

Of course, it would be too much to say that he was uniformly 
and unvaryingly consistent in his adherence to reform principles; 
that politics played no part in his appointments; that he resisted 
always the importunities of party leaders for the appointment 
of their henchmen; that he made no mistakes in his selection 
of men for important posts. He himself frankly acknowledged 
that he had made mistakes. He did not feel, however, that the 
criticism of his action in appointing, or allowing the appoint- 
ment, to office of men interested in the disputed election con- 
troversy, either as visiting statesmen or as participants in the 
Republican party management in the disputed States, which 
was paraded in hostile journals, had substantial basis. The 
visiting statesmen who received appointments, like Sherman, 
Noyes, Harlan, Matthews, Stoughton, and Lew Wallace, were 
among the most eminent and trusted leaders of the party. That 
their part in the election dispute had anything to do with their 
selection for office is in the highest degree improbable. The men 
active in the Republican cause in the disputed States who 
received appointments were the leaders of the party in those 
States. Mr. Hayes never had any other notion than that these 
men had acted conscientiously; had done their duty under the 
law in the canvass of the votes. They certainly were not to be 
ostracized on that account and because they were denounced 
and defamed by Democratic partisans for their conduct. It is 
further to be said that the men appointed proved to be faithful 
and efficient officers.^ 

1 The Nation of March 3, 1881, in reviewing Mr. Hayes's Administration, 
criticized Mr. Hayes severely because he had "provided the Louisiana politicians 




"WILLIAM B. WOODS 



JOIIX M. HARLAN 



STANLEY MATTHEWS 



PEESIDENT HAYES'S SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 109 

Moreover, Mr. Hayes made no pretensions of being other 
than a party man. That is to say, he beheved intensely in the 
principles of the Republican party; believed that under their 
application the country would have its best development, its 
greatest prosperity. He wished to strengthen the party, to in- 
crease its prospects of future success. The great needs of the 
country, as he conceived them, at the beginning of his Adminis- 
tration were: To restore constitutional and regular governments 
to the Southern States, and as far as practicable to put them 
in harmonious and proper relations to the whole country and to 
all classes of people; to bring back prosperity by a return to a 
sound currency; to improve the methods and system of the civil 
service. He desired to meet these needs in such a way as to make 
the Republican party stronger in the popular estimation and to 
restore it to full power in the Government. "The last was essen- 
tial" in his view, as he wrote in briefly reviewing his Administra- 
tion two months after he laid down the reins of government. 
"If at the end of my term," he proceeds, "the party which was 
on the wrong side of the Southern question, the financial ques- 
tion, and the civil service question should obtain power, all that 
might be gained by me on those questions would be lost. They 
already had Congress. With the solid South, they already had 
in the Electoral College eighteen more votes than were required 
to elect a President. In measuring my success on any or all of 
the first three points, it must be considered that success on the 

who had counted him in with substantial rewards for their services"; and be- 
cause his Cabinet had not been thoroughgoing civil service reformers. Com- 
menting on the criticism at the time, Mr. Hayes wrote: "(1)1 fully believed at 
the time, and subsequent information has confirmed me in the belief, that Louis- 
iana and Florida were both legally and rightfully counted for Hayes and "WTieeler, 
and that the members of the Returning Boards did their duty in the premises. 
If so, they surely were not disqualified by their action from holding office. The 
number of persons liable to this objection is grossly exaggerated. Wells and 
Anderson, of Louisiana, and others were in office — no complaints of miscon- 
duct; they were simply not dismissed. (2) As to the Cabinet on civil service 
reform. Other questions, notably the Southern and financial questions, had be- 
come paramount when I assumed office. To deal with those questions, the 
Cabinet was precisely what it should have been. I appeal to results. Even if 
civil service had been the pressing and vital question, the opposition of more 
than two thirds of Congress would have prevented its success. The corner-.stone 
for the reform was laid in the great offices in New York in spite of a hostile Con- 
gress and hostile party leaders." 



110 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

last was substantial success on all of the others, and failure on 
the last was inevitable failure on all the others." ^ 

Too great emphasis cannot be laid on the fact that, in all Mr. 
Hayes's efforts in behalf of civil service reform, he not only 
had no support from Congress, but had its positive and per- 
sistent opposition. He was left to fight the battle alone, without 
assistance or encouragement from the legislative branch of the 
Government, with constant misrepresentation of his aims and 
motives, with much unkind criticism from the more impatient 
friends of the reform who refused to see the difiiculties in his way, 
and with endless carping and sneers and abuse from the spoils- 
men and their satellites. In spite of all this, and after all quali- 
fications for errors of judgment or failures to live up to his ideals 
are fairly appraised, it can be asserted, with utmost positiveness, 
that taken as a whole the civil service under Mr. Hayes was 
made far more eflBcient and conscientious in doing the work 
of the Government, was freer from favoritism, and was far less 

1 Diary May 12, 1881. — Near the end of his life (May 15, 1891) Mr. Hayes, 
recurring to this subject, wrote : — 

" I am reminded that when I had a chance to strike strong and continuously 
in favor of civil service reform, I did not do all that the special friends of the re- 
form hoped I would do. ... In reply : No doubt there were shortcomings. It 
must be remembered that ' only one battle can be fought at a time. ' Before I 
reached Washington the situation had vastly changed from what it was when the 
nominations ^ere made and when the letter of acceptance was written. In July, 
1876, the reform was the living issue. In March, 1877, after the close, bitter, 
disputed election, — after the Southern question was pushed to the front, — 
the one great need of the country was peace, harmony, reconciliation. My 
thoughts and efforts were all required, and were all bent, to accomplish that 
end. Other questions were not neglected, but were to some extent postponed. 
Very soon the hard times, the dreadful riots of 1877, the financial condition be- 
came the burning question. All were anxious on that head. That was the one 
battle to be gained, or ruin would follow. Few men knew its peril. 

"It is simply true that a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress were 
ready and anxious to repeal the Resumption Act and to launch the country on 
the dangerous sea of unlimited and irredeemable paper currency. This could 
not be prevented merely by a veto. The veto would have been pushed aside by 
Congress. The only salvation was in Congress and in the committees on finance. 
Action must be prevented. It was prevented, and by the influence of the Adminis- 
tration with unfriendly Senators and Representatives. The history of the how 
has not been written. Very few know it. There was nothing questionable done. 
The truth brought home to a few minds did it. 

" But I could not fight both battles at the same time with equal vigor and suc- 
cess. Look at the vote on overruling the veto of the silver bill, and the gravity 
of the situation on resumption and inflation can be discovered." 



EFFORTS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 111 

involved in politics than it had been since the early years of our 
national life.^ The civil service never again sank or could sink 
to so low a level, in tone, in efficiency, in public repute, in perni- 
cious partisan activity as characterized it in the closing years 
of General Grant's Administration. Only by comparing condi- 
tions as Mr. Hayes left them with the conditions he found, alike 
in the government offices and in the sentiments and expecta- 
tions of the public mind, can one fairly estimate how much had 
really been accomplished both in actual achievement and in 
preparing the way for the measure of secure and permanent 
reform that has slowly been attained. 

1 No man of the period followed Mr. Hayes's efforts in behalf of reform more 
closely or with greater sympathy than George William Curtis, one of the earliest, 
sincerest, and most intelligent advocates of reform; and no man was juster in 
appreciating the difficulties that had to be met, or was prompter in criticizing 
Mr. Hayes's lapses in applying the principles. His final judgment of Mr. Hayes's 
achievement is therefore of special significance. In Harper s Weekly, February 
26, 1881, he says: — 

"We think that Mr. Hayes has done more for a reform of the civil service 
upon sound principles than any President in our history. We also think as we 
have often said, that he has done much that is flagrantly inconsistent with such 
principles, and that he made a disastrous mistake in not enforcing his executive 
order of June, 1877. . . . But despite every failure and inconsistency. Me are far 
from supposing the President to be insincere, or from admitting that what he 
has not done, or has done wrongly, has neutralized the real service that he has 
effected. That service consists in introducing in the two chief offices of their 
kind in the country, the New York Custom-House and the New York Post- 
Office, a system of appointment by proved merit and without personal favor or 
influence, and in sustaining the system for nearly two years against the most 
contemptuous and rancorous and insidious hostility. . . . The great service of 
President Hayes to reform is to have shown that it is perfectly practicable." 



CHAPTER XXX 

RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 

NO less important than the pacification of the South or the 
reform of the civil service was the problem presented to the 
Administration by the condition of the national finances. To 
the inviolable maintenance of the public faith and to the resump- 
tion of specie payments on the date fixed by the law of 1875, 
Mr. Hayes was committed alike by his conscientious beliefs and 
by his convictions of duty. In all his public utterances, however 
much other leaders of his party might be affected by popular 
financial delusions, he had persistently preached the sound- 
money faith, and had stood unyieldingly against any sugges- 
tion of inflation and every device that threatened the absolute 
fidelity of the nation in meeting its obligations to its creditors. 
It was his success in defending the sound-money cause in the 
Ohio campaign of 1875 that attracted to him the attention of the 
country and made him the candidate in 1876. His letter of 
acceptance and his inaugural address only reiterated the views 
on finance that he had long been known to entertain — that he 
had expressed with such vigor in his letter of March 4, 1876, 
to General Garfield, when Congress was seeking to repeal or to 
weaken the Resumption Law. "I would consent to no back- 
ward steps," he wrote then. "To yield or compromise is weak- 
ness and will destroy us. If a better resumption measure can be 
substituted for the present one, that may do. But keep cool. 
We can better afford to be beaten in Congress than to back 
out." ' 

It was in this spirit that Mr. Hayes faced the financial prob- 
lem. So far as he was concerned, and so far as he could control 
the course of events, there was to be no backward step. As 
regarded resumption, Mr. Sherman was in full accord and sym- 
pathy with the President. He was the author of the Resump- 
tion Act, and he began at once to take measures to exercise the 

1 For full letter see chapter xxiii. 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 113 

authority it gave the Secretary of the Treasury to make it effec- 
tive. Favorable arrangements for the sale of four per cent bonds^ 
were made with a syndicate of New York and London bankers, 
the bulk of the proceeds of which was used to retire six per cent 
bonds, but a portion of which was retained in the treasury to 
create a gold reserve against the day of resumption of specie 
payments.* These operations were carried on successfully in 
spite of the continuance of hard times which had prevailed since 
the panic of 1873. It was estimated in the public prints of the 
day, doubtless with some exaggeration, that three million men 
were idle throughout the country. 

In midsummer reduction of wages led to strikes of trainmen 
on all the great trunk lines between the seaboard and the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. In many cities, notably Pittsburg, serious riots, 
attended with bloodshed, rapine, and arson, occurred, and the 
President, at the request of the Governors of several States, 
promptly sent federal troops to the scenes of disorder where the 
militia had been unable to maintain the peace. Wherever the 
regulars appeared order was quickly restored, in every instance 
without shedding blood. But the strikes and the riots, symptom- 
atic as they were of wide popular unrest, made capital timid 
and for months there was no further sale of bonds. 

Continued demands for the repeal of the Resumption Act, on 
the ground that its enforcement would necessarily result in the 
contraction of the currency, and persistent agitation in favor 
of the remonetization of silver, at the old ratio,^ were likewise 
alarming the conservative influences of the country. All through 
the prolonged first session of the Forty-fourth Congress, effort 
after effort had unsuccessfully been made to emasculate the 
Resumption Law and more than one attempt was made to 
remonetize silver. In its second session the disputed election 

^ Under an existing contract made by Mr. Sherman's predecessor, Lot M. 
Morrill, with the same syndicate, $135,000,000 of four and one half per cent 
refunding bonds was sold between March 1 and July 1, 1877, and an equal 
amount of six per cent bonds was retired, thus reducing the annual interest 
charge $2,025,000. 

'^ The syndicate was required to offer the bonds for thirty days for popular 
subscriptions. The offer was made July 1, and within thirty days $67,000,000 
was subscribed for in this country and $10,200,000 in Europe. 

' Now become attractive to the advocates of cheap money because of the 
decreased value of silver. 



114 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

absorbed practically the whole attention of Congress and the 
country, though the House early in the session passed the Bland 
Free Coinage Bill by a vote of 167 to 53. And now, in the stagna- 
tion of business and industry, the people, especially of the West 
and South, where capital was less abundant, — fallaciously 
identifying currency with capital, — were clamoring for more 
money, and were ready to resort to any expedient that promised 
relief. The Legislature of Illinois had actually passed a bill mak- 
ing silver coins a legal tender at their face value. ^ The Demo- 
cratic state conventions, held in the summer of 1877, demanded 
both the repeal of the Resumption Act and the free coinage of 
silver. The Greenback Conventions, of course, did likewise, and 
repeated all their heretical monetary doctrines. The Republican 
state conventions of the West, while sustaining the Resumption 
Law, declared in favor of the restoration of silver to its former 
status. 2 Even Ohio and Pennsylvania Republicans were con- 
vinced that this was the true policy. 

Journals of all parties, away from the conservative Eastern 
cities, echoed the popular clamor for silver. The wonders sure 
to be wrought by the free coinage of silver, in reviving industry 
and restoring prosperity, were painted by orator and editor in 
iridescent colors. They were quite sincere in their advocacy, 
and scorned the notion that there could be the least dishonesty 
or sharp practice in using silver at the historic ratio to pay the 
Government's coin obligations. The suggestion that the silver 
dollar was a dishonest dollar was met with the assertion that 
gold had appreciated, and that to make the gold dollar the 
standard measure of value was to rob the debtor class for the 
benefit of the creditor class, who were constantly represented as 
heartless and rapacious. Did not the Act of July 14, 1870, under 
which the refunding of the national debt was proceeding, provide 
for payment "in coin of the present standard value"? Was not 
the silver dollar at that time the actual unit of value? Admit, 

* This was vetoed, of course, by Governor Cullom. 

* The declaration of the Iowa Republicans is typical: "That the silver dollar 
having been the legal unit of value from the foundation of the Federal Govern- 
ment until 1873, the law under which its coinage was suspended should be re- 
pealed at the earliest possible day, and silver made, with gold, a legal tender 
for the payment of all debts both public and private." {Annual Cyclopadia, 
1877.) 



1 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYI^IENTS 115 

indeed, that silver had depreciated now. Did that affect in the 
least the Government's absolute right to exercise the option 
afforded by its contract with its creditors to pay them in either 
kind of the coins that then were legally in existence ? Of course, 
this reasoning tacitly ignored the simple, undisputed fact that, 
in reality, for a generation, gold had been the sole coin standard 
of the United States, and that when the law of July, 1870, was 
passed no Congressman and no citizen had any thought that 
coin, as used in the law, meant anything but gold. 

Thus, when Congress met in special session October 15, 1877, 
Democratic public opinion was virtually unanimous in favor 
erf the repeal of the Resumption Act, and the predominant 
opinion of all parties demanded the remonetization of silver. 
Almost immediately (November 5), Mr. Bland, of Missouri, 
introduced in the House the Free Silver Bill which he had vainly 
sought to have adopted at the two previous sessions of Congress. 
Under suspension of the rules, which precluded any amendment 
or discussion, this bill, affecting every pecuniary relation of the 
American people and threatening the public credit, was instantly 
passed by an overwhelming vote. A fortnight later, Mr. Allison 
reported the bill in the Senate, with amendments, and it was 
placed on the calendar. At the same time the House voted to 
repeal the Resumption Act.^ 

This decided drift of opinion against"sound financial principles 
led the President, in his first annual message, to make a plain 
and earnest presentation of his views touching alike the urgent 
necessity of a return to specie payments and the wrongfulness 
and impoHcy of a debased silver coinage. He said : — 

Upon a most anxious and deliberate examination which I have felt it 
my duty to give to the subject, I am but the more confirmed in the 
(pinion, which I expressed in accepting the nomination for the Presi- 
dency and again upon my inauguration, that the policy of resumption 
should be pursued by every suitable means, and that no legislation 
would be wise that should disparage the importance or retard the attain- 
ment of that result, I have no disposition, and certainly no right, to 
question the sincerity or the intelligence of opposing opinions, and 
would neither conceal nor undervalue the considerable difficulties, and 
even occasional distresses, which may attend the progress of the nation 

' Twenty-seven Republicans, mostly Western men, voted for the repeal bill, 
and about the same number of Eastern Democrats against it. 



116 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

toward this primary condition to its general and permanent prosperitj'. 
I must, however, adhere to my most earnest conviction that any waver- 
ing in purpose or unsteadiness in methods, so far from avoiding or 
reducing the inconvenience inseparable from the transition from an 
irredeemable to a redeemable paper currency, would only tend to in- 
creased and prolonged disturbance in values, and, unless retrieved, must 
end in serious disorder, dishonor, and disaster in the financial affairs of 
the Government and of the people. The mischiefs which I apprehend, 
and urgently deprecate, are confined to no class of the people, indeed, 
but seem to me most certainly to threaten the industrious masses, 
whether their occupations are of skilled or common labor. To them, it 
seems to me, it is of prime importance that their labor should be com- 
pensated in money which is itself fixed in exchangeable value by being 
irrevocably measured by the labor necessary to its production. This 
permanent quality of the money of the people is sought for, and can 
only be gained, by the resumption of specie payments. The rich, the 
speculative, the operating, the money-dealing classes may not always 
feel the mischiefs of, or may find casual profits in, a variable currency, 
but the misfortunes of such a currency to those who are paid salaries or 
wages are inevitable and remediless. 

Closely connected with this general subject of the resumption of specie 
payments is one of subordinate but still of grave importance — I mean 
the readjustment of our coinage system, by the renewal of the silver 
dollar, as an element in our specie currency, endowed by legislation with 
the quality of legal tender to a greater or less extent. 

As there is no doubt of the power of Congress, under the Constitution, 
"to coin money and regulate the value thereof," and as this power cov- 
ers the whole range of authority applicable to the metal, the rated value, 
and the legal-tender quality which shall be adopted for the coinage, the 
considerations which should induce or discourage a particular measure 
connected with the coinage belong clearly to the province of legislative 
discretion and of public expediency. Without intruding upon this prov- 
ince of legislation in the least, I have yet thought the subject of such 
critical importance in the actual condition of our affairs as to present an 
occasion for the exercise of the duty imposed by the Constitution on the 
President, of recommending to the consideration of Congress "such 
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." 

Holding the opinion, as I do, that neither the interests of the Govern- 
ment nor of the people of the United States would be promoted by 
disparaging silver as one of the two precious metals which furnish the 
coinage of the world, and that legislation which looks to maintaining 
the volume of intrinsic money to as full a measure of both metals as their 
relative commercial values will permit, would be neither unjust nor 
inexpedient, I must ask j'our indulgence to a brief and definite statement 
of certain essential features in any such legislative measure which I feel 
it my duty to recommend. 

I do not propose to enter the debate, represented on both sides by 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 117 

such able disputants in Congress and before the people and in the press, 
as to the extent to which the legislation of any one nation can control 
this question, even within its own borders, against the unwritten laws of 
trade or the positive laws of other Governments. The wisdom of Con- 
gress, in shaping any particular law that may be presented for my ap- 
proval, may wholly supersede the necessity of my entering into these 
considerations, and I willingly avoid either vague or intricate inquir- 
ies. It is only certain plain and practical traits of such legislation that I 
desire to recommend to your attention. 

In any legislation providing for a silver coinage, regulating its value 
and imparting to it the quality of legal tender, it seems to me of great 
importance that Congress should not lose sight of its action as operating 
in a twofold capacity and in two distinct directions. If the United States 
Government were free from a public debt, its legislative dealing with the 
question of silver coinage would be purely sovereign and governmental, 
under no restraints but those of constitutional power and the public good 
as aflFected by the proposed legislation. But, in the actual circumstances 
of the nation, with a vast public debt distributed very widely among our 
own citizens, and held in great amounts also abroad, the nature of the 
silver-coinage measure, as affecting this relation of the Government to 
the holders of the public debt, becomes an element, in any proposed legis- 
lation, of the highest concern. The obligation of the public faith tran- 
scends all questions of profit or public advantage otherwise. Its unques- 
tionable maintenance is the dictate as well of the highest expediency, 
as of the most necessary duty, and will ever be carefully guarded by 
Congress and people alike. 

The public debt of the United States, to the amount of $729,000,000, 
bears interest at the rate of six per cent, and $708,000,000 at the rate 
of five per cent, and the only way in which the country can be relieved 
from the payment of these high rates of interest is by advantageously 
refunding the indebtedness. WTiether the debt is ultimately paid in 
gold or in silver coin is of but little moment compared with the possible 
reduction of interest one third, by refunding it at such reduced rate. If 
the United States had the unquestioned right to pay its bonds in silver 
coin, the little benefit from that process would be greatly overbalanced 
by the injurious effect of such payment, if made or proposed against the 
honest convictions of the public creditors. All the bonds that have been 
issued since February 12, 1873, when gold became the only unlimited 
legal-tender metallic currency of the country, are justly payable in 
gold coin or in coin of equal value. During the time of these issues, the 
only dollar that could be or was received by the Government in exchange 
for bonds was the gold dollar. To require the public creditors to take, in 
repayment, any dollar of less commercial value, would be regarded by 
them as a repudiation of the full obligation assumed. The bonds issued 
prior to 1873 were issued at a time when the gold dollar was the only 
coin in circulation or contemplated by either the Government or the 
holders of the bonds as the coin in which they were to be paid. It is far 



118 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

better to pay these bonds in that coin than to seem to take advantage of 
the unforeseen fall in silver bullion to pay in a new issue of silver coin, thus 
made so much less valuable. The power of the United States to coin 
money and to regulate the value thereof ought never to be exercised for 
the purpose of enabling the Government to pay its obligations in a coin 
of less value than that contemplated by the parties when the bonds were 
issued. Any attempt to pay the national indebtedness in a coinage of 
less commercial value than the money of the world would involve a 
violation of the public faith and work irreparable injury to the public 
credit. 

It was the great merit of the Act of March, 1869, in strengthening the 
public credit, that it removed all doubt as to the purpose of the United 
States to pay their bonded debt in coin. That act was accepted as a 
pledge of public faith. The Government has derived great benefit from 
it in the progress thus far made in refundmg the public debt at low rates 
of interest. An adherence to the wise and just policy of an exact observ- 
ance of the public faith will enable the Government rapidly to reduce 
the burden of interest on the national debt to an amount exceeding 
$20,000,000 per annum, and effect an aggregate saving to the United 
States of more than $300,000,000 before the bonds can be fully paid. 

In adapting the new silver coinage to the ordinary uses of currency 
in the everyday transactions of life and prescribing the quality of legal 
tender to be assigned to it, a consideration of the first importance should 
be so to adjust the ratio between the silver and the gold coinage, which 
now constitutes our specie currency, as to accomplish the desired end of 
maintaining the circulation of the two metallic currencies, and keeping 
up the volume of the two precious metals as our intrinsic money. It is a 
mixed question for scientific reasoning and historical experience to deter- 
mine how far, and by what methods, a practical equilibrium can be 
maintained which will keep both metals in circulation in their appropri- 
ate spheres of common use. An absolute equality of commercial value, 
free from disturbing fluctuations, is hardly attainable, and without it an 
unlimited legal tender for private transactions assigned to both metals 
would irresistibly tend to drive out of circulation the dearer coinage, and 
disappoint the principal object proposed by the legislation in view. I 
apprehend, therefore, that the two conditions of a near approach to equal- 
ity of commercial value between the gold and silver coinage of the same 
denomination, and of a limitation of the amounts for which the silver 
coinage is to be a legal tender, are essential to maintaining both in circu- 
lation. If these conditions can be successfully observed, the issue from 
the mint of silver dollars would afford material assistance to the com- 
munity in the transition to redeemable paper money, and would facili- 
tate the resumption of specie payment and its permanent establishment. 
Without these conditions, I fear that only mischief and misfortune 
would flow from a coinage of silver dollars with the quality of unlimited 
legal tender, even in private transactions. 

Any expectation of temporary ease from an issue of silver coinage to 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 119 

pass as a legal tender, at a rate materially above its commercial value, 
is, I am persuaded, a delusion. Nor can I think that there is any sub- 
stantial distinction between an original issue of silver dollars at a nomi- 
nal value materially above their commercial value, and the restoration of 
the silver dollar at a rate which once was, but has ceased to be, its com- 
mercial value. Certainly the issue of our gold coinage, reduced in weight 
materially below its legal-tender value, would not be any the less a 
present debasement of the coinage by reason of its equalling or even 
exceeding in weight a gold coinage which at some past time had been 
commercially equal to the legal-tender value assigned to the new issue. 

In recommending that the regulation of any silver coinage which may 
be authorized by Congress should observe these conditions of commer- 
cial value and limited legal tender, I am governed by the feeling that 
every possible increase should be given to the volume of metallic money 
which can be kept in circulation, and thereby every possible aid afforded 
to the people in the process of resuming specie payments. It is because 
of my firm conviction that a disregard of these conditions would frustrate 
the good results which are desired from the proposed coinage, and em- 
barrass with new elements of confusion and uncertainty the business of 
the country, that I urge upon your attention these considerations. 

I respectfully recommend to Congress that in any legislation provid- 
ing for a silver coinage, and imparting to it the quality of legal tender, 
there be impressed upon the measure a firm provision exempting the 
public debt, heretofore issued and now outstanding, from payment, 
either of principal or interest, in any coinage of less commercial value 
than the present gold coinage of the country. 

But the impressive words of the President, reenforced though 
they were by the cogent reasoning of Secretary Sherman in his 
report at the same time to Congress, fell upon deaf ears, hardly 
serving even to check the progress of the silver movement. The 
agitation for silver throughout the country, indeed, gained new 
impetus. The papers were full of the subject, and mass meetings 
were held which applauded passionate speeches and adopted 
impulsive resolutions denouncing the greed of the bondholders 
and demanding the restoration of the people's silver birthright 
of which, as it was stridently and persistently asserted, they had 
feloniously been deprived. Such a meeting in Chicago, typical 
of many others, on December 13, was attended numerously by 
representative men of all classes and professions. It was pre- 
sided over by Judge Lawrence, who had been chairman of the 
Louisiana Commission. He declared that the restoration of 
silver to legal-tender quality "would certainly turn the tide of 
afifairs and open the way to returning prosperity." "It would 



120 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

give new life to our stricken industries and add to the market 
value of our property." The excited resolutions adopted ex- 
pressed "alarm" at the position taken by the President in his 
message on the silver question, and demanded "that the silver 
dollar be restored to its full legal-tender quality in payment of 
all debts public and private, and we will be satisfied with nothing 
short of this." Judge Booth, chairman of the resolutions com- 
mittee, said : — 

The purpose of these resolutions is to give utterance to the collective 
voice of the people so that it may be heard, aye, and heeded, too, by the 
powers that be at Washington. We would in this matter arouse the 
slumbering consciousness of the President and his advisers to some 
apprehension of the fact that there is a thunderstorm brewing in the 
West, and that, unless they have a care, somebody is likely to be hit by 
the hghtning of public wrath and indignation, unless they concede the 
just demands of the people.^ 

In the Senate the Bland-Allison Bill was made the occasion for 
an exhaustive debate which the President followed with close 
attention, remaining, however, unaffected by the arguments of 
the silver advocates. February 3, he writes in his diary : — 

It is now almost a certainty that the Silver Bill will pass in such shape 
that I must withhold my signature. I am not so opposed to silver 
coinage that I would veto a bill which guarded the rights of creditors, 
and operated only in futuro. But I cannot consent to a measure which 
stains our credit. We must keep that untainted. We are a debtor 
nation. Low rates of interest on the vast indebtedness we must carry 
for many years is the important end to be kept in view. Expediency 
and justice both demand honest coinage. 

Three days later he continues : — 

The measure will contract the coin currency of the country by expel- 
ling gold, which will not remain in the presence of the depreciated silver. 

Finally, on February 15, the Senate passed the bill, modified 
by additional amendments. The bill as adopted w^as divested of 
the free-coinage feature. It restored the silver dollar, at the old 
ratio of sixteen to one, to the coinage, and made it a legal tender 
for all obligations public or private, "except where otherwise 
expressly stipulated in the contract"; required the coining of 
not less than two million nor more than four million dollars' 
worth of silver monthly on government account; authorized 
* Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1877. 



RESUIVIPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 121 

the issuance of silver certificates against coin deposited in the 
Treasury; and directed the President to invite the Governments 
of the Latin Union countries and other European nations to 
join in a conference with the United States with a view to adopt- 
ing a common ratio between gold and silver, so as to establish 
international bimetallism. The House promptly accepted the 
Senate amendments, though the extreme "friends of silver" 
saw in them a perversion of the Bland Bill "from its original 
beneficent purpose and effect." Secretary Sherman thought the 
bill in its perfected form would not be dangerous to the finances 
of the country nor detrimental to its credit, believing that the 
limited amount of silver dollars that would be brought into the 
currency could be kept at par with gold; and he was doubtful 
of the wisdom of a veto.^ Moreover, considerations of policy 
could be urged to justify approval of the bill. The measure had 
commanded the votes of a majority of the members of both 
parties. It was practically certain that a veto would have no 
effect. To sign the bill would please its advocates, especially 
among the Republican members, and might ease the friction 
between them and the President. And besides all this, the meas- 
ure was immensely popular with the great masses of the people 
of all parties; and why needlessly affront them by interposing a 
veto that was sure to be overridden? Mr. Hayes, however, was 
firmly convinced that the bill was essentially wrong, that "it 
was not nor it could not come to good." This is clearly indicated 
by the following entry in the diary on February 17: — 

^ "I did not agree with the President in his veto of the bill, for the radical 
changes made in its terms in the Senate had greatly changed its effect and tenor. 
The provisions authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase not less 
than two million dollars' worth of silver bullion per month, at market price, and 
to coin it into dollars, placed the silver dollars upon the same basis as the sub- 
sidiary coins, except that the dollar contained a greater number of grains of 
silver than a dollar of the subsidiary coins, and was a legal tender for all debts 
without limit as to amount. The provision that the gain or seigniorage arising 
from the coinage should be accounted for and paid into the Treasury, as under 
the existing laws relative to subsidiary coinage, seemed to remove all serious 
objections to the measure. In view of the strong public sentiment in favor of the 
free coinage of the silver dollar, I thought it better to make no objections to the 
passage of the bill, but I did not care to antagonize the wishes of the President. 
He honestly believed that it would greatly disturb the public credit to make a 
legal tender for all amounts of a dollar, the bullion in which was not of equal 
commercial value to the gold dollar." {Sherman's Recollections, chapter xxxii.) 



122 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The Silver Bill has passed the Senate with amendments that will send 
it back to the House. It will no doubt reach me during this week. I have 
given the subject some study and much anxious reflection. I shall vet9 
the bill. It will probably become a law notwithstanding my veto. In my 
message I ought to give a brief summary of the objections to it, and 
probably I ought to indicate what sort of a silver bill might receive my 
approval (.'') ; but that is a question for consideration. I feel the impor- 
tance and responsibility of my action. But I have no misgiving. The 
nation must not have a stain on its honor. Its credit must not be tainted. 
This is the first, and great objection: It is a violation of the national 
-^ faith. 

Feeling in this way, no considerations of policy, no assurance 
of popular approval, and no persuasions of party leaders and 
friends ^ whom he trusted and admired could have any weight 

^ Murat Halstead, editor of the Cincinnati Commercial, wrote him November 
21, 1877: "If according to the dispatches of the day you should veto the silver 
Bill [providing as it stood then for free coinage], the mistake would be the great- 
est possiljle to commit. On the side of silver are the laws, the morals, and the 
interests of the nation." And after the bill was in the President's hands, Joseph 
Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune, who was in Washington, earnestly sought, 
by personal appeal and written arguments, to induce the President to approve 
the bill. February 25 he wrote a long defense of the bill, ending with these words: 
"If a veto is sustained the country will be convulsed with excitement and indig- 
nation, and wild, desperate men will get control of popular feeling and make 
mischief. Ultra measures will be forced through Congress, and repeal of the 
Resumption Act will be attached to vital appropriation bills. Vast and incal- 
culable injuries may result from thwarting [the] popular will on the Silver Bill." 
Two days later, he wrote: "The Refunding Act of July, 1870, declares in practi- 
cal effect that the Government will pay the five, four and one-half, and four 
per cent bonds, principal and interest, in so many ounces of silver or gold at 
its option (one thousand ounces of silver for a thousand-dollar bond, or sixty- 
three ounces of goltl). The Government never undertook to guarantee that 
the purchasing power of a povmd of silver should always continue equal to 
that of an ounce of gold; nor that it should always be able to purchase an ounce 
of gold in the London market; nor that its purchasing power in commodities 
should never change. Nor did the Government guarantee that Germany should 
not demonetize her silver and adopt the monometallic system. Nor did it under- 
take to defend against the effect of such act on the relative values of silver and 
gold. The Government cannot be held responsible for any of those contingencies. 
Congress simply ordered bonds to be offered for sale and pledged the faith of the 
nation to repay each (omitting fractions) in one thousand ounces of silver, or 
sixty-three ounces of gold, at its option — the said silver and gold to be legal- 
tender coin. That is the contract naked and simple, stripped of techniralities 
and refinements. And the American people are not educated up to any higher 
standard of morality than to pay their <lebts according to contract. Now, mark 
my prediction. 1. Silver bullion will be worth not less than ninety-four cents 
within thirty days after the Silver Bill goes into effect. It will rise thereafter 
about one per cent a month under the force of the steady and prospective 



;^ipBEnmip™T::j«Tr'i'i 




PRESIDENT HAYES 
From a photograph by Land}- in 1877 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 123 

with him. He immediately prepared a veto message which he 
submitted to the deUberation of the Cabinet. The diary, Feb- 
ruary 26, has this record : — 

To-day at Cabinet meeting we considered the Silver Bill passed last 
week. I had prepared a veto message, and read it to the Cabinet. 
Colonel Thompson opposed a veto. He said he was an old Whig and be- 
lieved the old Whig doctrine was sound. He thought there should be no 
veto on grounds of expediency or policy. There must be a violation of 
the Constitution, or haste, or mistake. Here was a measure long dis- 
cussed — the people almost unanimously for it — two thirds of each 
House for it — the measure a wise one and demanded very earnestly by 
the country. I told him the message put the veto wholly on grounds of 
principle. The faith of the nation was to be violated ; the obligation of 
contracts was impaired by the law. Colonel Thompson replied that 
there was no provision denying to Congress the right to impair the 
obligation of contracts; that no obligation was in fact impaired; that 
contracts were made in view of the right of Congress to alter the legal 
tender. 

Mr. Evarts differed totally from Mr. Thompson as to the right of the 
President to withhold his assent to measures which he did not approve. 
The President under the Constitution is part of the lawmaking power. 
The people have willed that no measure shall become a law unless he 
approves until Congress a second time acts on the bill and by a two- 
thirds vote passes it again. 

Sherman disliked the condition of things. Belmont, the agent of the 
Rothschilds, fears the effect of a veto — prefers the bUl should be ap- 
proved, had as he thinks it is. But Sherman sees no other course. 

McCrary also fears a veto. Would like it if the bill is to pass over the 
veto. But if the veto is successful in killing the bill, he regards with great 
apprehension the result. The Democrats, with their worst elements in 
advance, will come into power. 

Judge Key does not see how, with the known principles of the Admin- 
istration, anything else can be done than to refuse assent to the bill. 

Judge Devens regards a veto as on all accounts the true course. 

General Schurz tliinks a veto, if successful, will save the country from 
an immoral and dangerous measure, and if not successful the conse- 
quences will be less damaging than the effect of concurrence. 

coinage demand until it approaches par of gold. 2. Silver legal-tender dollars will 
start off at not less than 99f in gold and will not sink below 99 at any time during 
the next four to eight years, but will really circulate at 99| to par all the time, 
until they rise above par, which may be within two or three years on account of 
being worth intrinsically three per cent more than Latin Union legal-tender 
silver coins. There never was 'a 91-cent' legal-tender silver 'dollar' in any 
bimetallic country. Such a coin is a myth of the Wall Street brain." 

Even Mrs. Medill wrote Mrs. Hayes begging her to use her influence with 
the President to persuade him to sign the bill. 



124 RUTHERFORD BIRCH.\RD HAYES 

For a veto, decidedly: Evarts, Key, Schurz, Devens, — four. For a 
veto, with some doubts: Sherman and McCrary — two. Opposed to 
a veto, Thompson. 

Two days later the President sent his veto message to Con- 
gress. It was as follows : — 

To THE House of Representatives: — 

After a very careful consideration of the House Bill No. 1093, entitled 
"An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar and to 
restore its legal-tender character," I feel compelled to return it to the 
House of Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections 
to its passage. 

Holding the opinion, which I expressed in my annual message, that 
" neither the interests of the Government nor of the people of the United 
States would be promoted by disparaging silver as one of the two pre- 
cious metals wliich furnish the coinage of the world, and that legislation 
which looks to maintaining the volume of intrinsic money to as full a 
measure of both metals as their relative commercial values will permit 
would be neither unjust nor inexpedient," it has been my earnest desire 
to concur with Congress in the adoption of such measures to increase 
the silver coinage of the country as would not impair,, the obligation 
of contracts, either public or private, nor injuriously affect the public 
credit. It is only upon the conviction that tliis bill does not meet 
these essential requirements that I feel it my duty to withhold from 
it my approval. 

My present official duty as to this bill permits only an attention to 
the specific objections to its passage which seem to me so important as 
to justify me in asking from the wisdom and duty of Congress that 
further consideration of the bill for which the Constitution has, in 
such cases, provided. 

The bill provides for the coinage of silver dollars of the weight of 
41 2| grains each, of standard silver, to be a legal tender at their nom- 
inal value for all debts and dues, public and private, except where other- 
wise expressly stipulated in the contract. It is well known that the 
market value of that number of grains of standard silver during the past 
year has been from ninety to ninety-two cents as compared with the 
standard gold dollar. Thus the silver dollar authorized by this bill is 
worth eight to ten per cent less than it purports to be worth, and is made 
a legal tender for debts contracted when the law did not recognize such 
coins as lawful money. 

The right to pay duties in silver or certificates for silver deposits will, 
when they are issued in sufficient amount to circulate, put an end to the 
receipt of revenue in gold, and thus compel the payment of silver for 
both the i)rincipal and interest of the pulilic debt. Eleven hundred and 
forty-three million, four hundred and ninety-three thousand, four hun- 
dred dollars of the bonded debt, now outstanding, was issued prior to 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PA\TMENTS 125 

February, 1873, when the silver dollar was unknown in circulation in 
this country, and was only a convenient form of silver bullion for expor- 
tation; $583,440,350 of the funded debt has been issued since February, 
1873, when gold alone was the coin for which the bonds were sold, and 
gold alone was the coin in which both parties to the contract understood 
that the bonds would be paid. These bonds entered into the markets of 
the world. They were paid for in gold when silver had greatly depreci- 
ated, and when no one would have bought them if it had been under- 
stood that they would be paid in silver. The sum of $225,000,000 of 
these bonds has been sold during my Administration for gold coin, and 
the United States received the benefit of these sales by a reduction of 
the rate of interest to four and four and one half per cent. During the 
progress of these sales a doubt was suggested as to the coin in which pay- 
ment of these bonds would be made. The public announcement was 
thereupon authorized that it was "not to be anticipated that any future 
legislation of Congress, or any action of any Department of the Gov- 
ernment, would sanction or tolerate the redemption of the principal 
of these bonds, or the payment of the interest thereon, in coin of less 
value than the coin authorized by law at the time of the issue of the 
bonds, being the coin exacted by the Government in exchange for the 
same." 

In view of these facts, it will be justly regarded as a grave breach of 
the public faith to undertake to pay these bonds, principal or interest, 
in silver coin worth in the market less than the coin received for them. 
It is said that the silver dollar made a legal tender by this bill will, 
under its operation, be equivalent in value to the gold dollar. Many sup- 
porters of the bill believe this, and would not justify an attempt to pay 
debts, either public or private, in coin of inferior value to the money of 
the world. The capital defect of the bill is that it contains no provision, 
protecting from its operation preexisting debts in case the coinage 
wliich it creates shall continue to be of less value than that which was 
the sole legal tender when they were contracted. If it is now proposed, 
for the purpose of taking advantage of the depreciation of silver in the 
payment of debts, to coin and make a legal tender a silver dollar of less 
commercial value than any dollar, whether of gold or paper, which is 
now lawful money in this country, such measure, it will hardly be ques- 
tioned, will, in the judgment of mankind, be an act of bad faith. As to 
all debts heretofore contracted, the silver doUar should be made a legal 
tender only at its market value. The standard of value should not be 
changed without the consent of both parties to the contract. National 
promises should be kept with unflinching fidelity. There is no power to 
compel a nation to pay its just debts. Its credit depends on its honor. 
The nation owes what it has led or allowed its creditors to expect. I 
cannot approve a bill which in my judgment authorizes the violation of 
sacred obligations. The obligation of the public faith transcends all 
questions of profit or public advantage. Its unquestionable mainte- 
nance is the dictate as well of the highest expediency as of the most 



126 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

necessary duty, and should ever be carefully guarded by the Executive, 
by Congress, and by the people. 

It is my firm conviction that, if the country is to be benefited by a silver 
coinage, it can be done only by the issue of silver dollars of full value, 
which will defraud no man. A currency worth less than it purports to be 
worth will in the end defraud not only creditors, but all who are engaged 
in legitimate business, and none more surely than those who are depend- 
ent on their daily labor for their daily bread. 

R. B. Hayes. 

Executive Mansion, February 28, 1878.* 

The bill was immediately passed over the veto and became 
a law. And thus the undervalued silver dollar, source of un- 
numbered political and financial woes, was brought into our 
monetary system. Probably no political economist or student 
of finance, whose opinion would now command wide respect, 
could be named who does not believe that President Hayes was 

* " I sent in my message against the Silver Bill yesterday. The message was 
short and I hope forcible. My objection to the bill is that it authorizes what I 
think is dishonest. I trust that in fact no actual dishonesty will be permitted 
under it. 

" A year ago to-day we left Columbus to come to Washington. The year, if 
I think of the scenes through which I have passed, seems an age. If I recall the 
farewell at Columbus, the throng at the State House, the procession to the depot, 
the speech and farewell there, the lapse of time is but a day. I have tried to do 
my duty. The' crowd of business, the urgent misrepresentations poured into 
my ears by men who ought to be trustworthy, have led to mistakes, serious 
mistakes, mainly in appointments, but the general course has been right. I have 
been firm and self-possessed on the most difficult and trying occasions, I am not 
liked as a President by the politicians in office, in the press, or in Congress. But 
I am content to abide the judgment — the sober second thought — of the 
people." (Diary, March 1. 1878.) 

Apropos of the second paragraph just given, compare what George William 
Curtis says in a review of the first year of the Administration inHarper'sWeekly, 
March23, 1878: — 

"Some most excellent results have been accomplished. In accordance with 
his letter and his inaugural he has made fewer changes in minor offices than any 
new President since John Quincy Adams. He has declined congressional dicta- 
tion in nominations, and has asserted a just executive independence. But the 
present party system made this result inevitable for any President who did not 
peddle his patronage in the usual way. The shock to the system has also turned 
against him a large part of the party press and the 'working politicians.' But 
despite all this, and despite all that is justly censurable in the details of the 
action of the Administration, there is no doubt that its general purpose and 
tendency have a more general support in all parts of the country and among 
the most intelligent and patriotic citizens than any recent Administration has 
received. . . . Outside of the strictly 'politician' class Republican feeling for the 
President is still warm and generous." 



I 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 127 

right in his veto, and who is not convinced that it would have 
been far better for the country had Congress accepted his judg- 
ment. In the confusion of financial ideas of the time, which was 
by no means confined to our country, with men of distinction 
and journals of character plausibly arguing the possibihty and 
the necessity of bimetallism and the power of governmental 
action to fix and maintain the ratio between gold and silver, the 
prevalence of the popular demand for silver — rising in many 
minds, indeed, to a passionate and unreasoning sentiment — 
cannot excite surprise. ^ The majority in Congress shared the 
feeling of their constituents and correctly reflected their desires. 
It was simply inevitable, in view of all the conditions and senti- 
ments of the period, that the country should try the silver ex- 
periment and learn by bitter experience that the natural laws 
which determine the ratio of exchange, even of the precious 
metals, cannot be repealed by statutory enactment. The Presi- 
dent, however, who did see clear and think straight, did his 
duty in uttering words of truth and soberness in warning Con- 
gress and the country of the perilous path on which they were 
precipitately entering. 

The law was of course loyally enforced, the Treasury Depart- 
ment beginning immediately to purchase monthly the minimum 
amount of silver (two million dollars' worth) required by the 
law and coining it into dollars, which were stored in the treas- 
ury vaults. 2 For the time being, and for a considerable period, 

* George Walker, a believer in bimetallism and an opponent of free coinage 
by the United States as likely to retard the "cause," wrote in the New York 
Tribune of November 7, 1877: "There is an undoubted silver majority among 
the people — probably a large majority; and the attitude assumed by the gold 
party, since the debate upon the question has become general, has been ad- 
mirably calculated to make it larger and more unreasoning than it would have 
been with a fairer treatment. The cry of the 'Dollar of the Daddies' has not 
been a fortunate one for those who reiterated it. The case is far too serious for 
ridicule, and the popular belief that it is one in which the interests of the rich are 
arrayed against those of the poor, required the most considerate and respectful 
treatment, if any hope was entertained of making it give place to a more intel- 
ligent sentiment." 

* The international conference provided for in the second section of the law 
met in Paris in August. Eleven countries accepted the invitation of the President 
to send delegates. The President appointed for the United States, ex-Senator 
Fenton (New York), W. S. Groesbeck (Ohio), and Francis A. Walker (Massa- 
chusetts), with S. Dana Horton as secretary. There was earnest discussion and 
the presentation of endless data, but no agreement. The conference had no 



128 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the evils that were sure to follow did not appear, and the appre- 
hensions of the financial world were allayed. On sober second 
thought, now that free coinage of silver was defeated, even 
though Congress had adopted Senator Matthews's concurrent 
resolution declaring that the bonds of the United States were 
payable in silver dollars and that such payment was not a viola- 
tion of the public faith, conservative bankers and investors both 
at home and abroad settled back to the conviction that, what- 
ever unsound financial doctrines might be proclaimed or men- 
acing experiments tried, the United States, after all, would never, 
by any indirection or plea of technical right, fail to fulfil its 
strict obligations to its creditors. Secretary Sherman, therefore, 
found it possible to resume his refunding operations by the dis- 
posal of four per cent bonds and to continue to add to his gold 
reserve. Signs of returning prosperity and a more hopeful spirit 
in the business world made easier his task. In April he was able 
to sell to the old syndicate $50,000,000 of four and one half per 
cent bonds at a premium of one and one half per cent, $10,- 
000,000 to be taken at once and $5,000,000 monthly thereafter, 
for gold, all of which was to be placed in the reserve for resump- 
tion purposes. The success of this brilliant achievement, all 
the details of which were published at the time and widely 
commented on, dissipated any lingering doubt, in the minds of 
most sensible people, that, in the absence of adverse legislation 
by Congress, resumption of specie payments was assured on the 
date prescribed by the law. Indeed, it was practically operative 
already, as the premium on gold was near the vanishing point. ^ 

practical result; as did none of the subsequent similar conferences brought about 
by our Government in seeking to "do something for silver." 

1 "Mr. Sherman has contracted for $50,000,000 gold, and gold yesterday fell 
to 100§ ! It now looks as if we should be at specie payments long before the 
1st of January, 1879. We have passed through the suffering, let us have the 
desired end." (Diary, April 13, 1878.) 

"Sherman returned from New York last night. His loan has been very suc- 
cessful; $50,000,000 gold before 1879 at lOU for his four and one half per cent 
bonds. The premium on gold almost gone, or one fourth of one per cent. If 
we can practically resume before the elections in the fall, it will be a feather in 
our cap. Now we are hopeful. With reconciliation proceeding well, and resump- 
tion secured, as now appears, we are stronger than ever before. Our position on 
the Silver l?ill enabled the Republicans in the Senate to improve the Bland Bill: 
(I) by striking out free coinage; (2) by the device of silver certificates; (3) by 
a commission to treat with other nations." (Diary, April 14, 1878.) 



u 



RESLTVIPTION OF SPECIE PAYIVIENTS 129 

Meanwhile the bill, passed by the House in November, re- 
pealing the Resumption Act, was still in the hands of the Fi- 
nance Committee of the Senate, where it was the subject of 
much discussion.^ Secretary Sherman appeared before this com- 
mittee and explained in full detail the condition of the Treasury 
and the preparations he was making to insure resumption. He 
appeared for a similar purpose before the House Committee of 
Banking and Commerce and spent several days in making clear 
" every phase of the financial condition of the United States and 
the policy of the Treasury Department in the past and in the 
future." ^ Mr. Sherman convinced the members of both com- 
mittees that he had absolute faith in the ability of the Admin- 
istration to carry out the Resumption Act, and the published 
reports of his statements had a reassuring effect on the public 
mind and doubtless contributed to the ease of his subsequent 
negotiation with the syndicate. At any rate, no further attempt 
was made to repeal the resumption part of the law. 

One excellent provision of the law, however, was not allowed 
to stand. That was the clause directing the Secretary of the 
Treasury, as national bank-note circulation increased, gradually 
to redeem and retire the legal-tender government notes (green- 
backs) in excess of $300,000,000. Under the operation of this 
provision something over $30,000,000 of greenbacks had been 
cancelled, thus manifestly making resumption by so much 
easier. Congress, however, viewed with impatience anything 
that looked like contraction of the currency, and April 29, under 
suspension of the rules, the House passed a bill forbidding any 
further retirement of greenbacks.^ The Senate by a vote of 
41 to 18 ^ passed the bill May 28, and May 31 it became a law 

* The bill was reported in April with a substitute making United States notes 
receivable in payment for refimding bonds, and after October 1, 1878, for duties 
on imports, and pro%ading that the volume of such notes in existence on that 
date should remain in permanent circulation. In June it was amended so as 
to strike out the last pro\'ision (already by that time embodied in a separate 
law) and passed by a vote of 45 to 15. In the House the attempt to pass the 
amended bill under suspension of the rules failed. 

' Recollections, chapter xxxii. 

* The vote was 177 to 35, only 7 Democrats voting in the negative. Among 
the Republicans voting in the aflBrmative were Aldrich, Foster, and McKinley. 

* Among the Republicans that voted in the aflBrmative were Allison, Blaine, 
and Windom. 



130 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

by the President's signature. On that date the amount of green- 
backs outstanding was $346,681,016, and at that figure the 
forced loan of the country has remained ever since, with ap- 
parently no disposition or desire on the part of the people to do 
away with this constant menace to a sound monetary system. 
A veto might reasonably have been expected from the Presi- 
dent in view of his well-known opinions, though it would doubt- 
less have been disregarded by Congress. ^ But, after all, there 
was no difference in principle between the retention ui circula- 
tion by the Government of $300,000,000 or of $346,000,000, as 
long as resumption was assured. So the President followed the 
advice of Secretary Sherman, m whose judgment of the immedi- 
ate financial situation he had full confidence.^ The declarations 
of state conventions of 1878 of both parties show that the meas- 
ure was widely popular. The greenback had been so long in use 
and was so convenient and certain, as compared with the old 
paper currency of local issue, that the popular mind pretty 
generally was befuddled, as it continues to be, touching its 
true nature and proper function. 

With resumption practically assured. Democratic state con- 
ventions, with singular fatuity, still demanded the repeal of the 
Resumption Act; and conventions of all parties in the West 
urged that Congress should not rest content with the Bland- 
Allison Law, but should give the country free and unrestricted 
coinage of silver. In the elections in November the Democrats 
were again successful in gaining a small majority of members of 

» "A veto by Hayes, in the face of the overwhelming votes in both houses of 
Congress, would very likely have been overridden. It is obvious that the ap- 
proval of this act was contrary to his convictions, and that but for Sherman's 
leanings to the policy of continuing the United States notes as a permanent part 
of our currency, our financial history might have been altered by a vigorous 
veto of this reactionary measure." (A. B. Hepburn, History oj Coinage, etc., 
chapter x.) 

Mr. Sherman never changed his opinion in regard to the greenback currency. 
In his Recollections (chapter xxxix), he says: "I am convinced that United 
States notes based on coin in the Treasury are the best form of currency yet 
devised, and that the volume might be gradually increased as the volume of 
business increases." 

2 "I recommended the passage of this law, as I believed that the retirement of 
the greenbacks pending the preparation for resumption, by reducing the vol- 
ume of the currency, really increased the difficulties of resumption." (Recol- 
lections, chapter xxxiii.) 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 131 

the House of Representatives and in making certain that they 
would control the Senate of the Forty-sixth Congress.^ 

Meanwhile the accumulation of the gold reserve in prepara- 
tion for the day of resumption went steadily on from the monthly 
sales of the four and one-half per cent bonds and from the excess 
of revenue over expenditures. When Congress reassembled at 
the beginning of December, 1878, the President was able to 
report that during the year $100,000,000 of four per cent re- 
funding bonds had been sold and an equal amount of six per 
cent bonds redeemed; and Secretary Sherman to announce that 
the Treasury held $142,000,000 of gold in the resumption fund. 
In view of the existing financial conditions the President's words 
to Congress, in his annual message, were : — 

I am persuaded that the welfare of legitimate business and industry of 
every description will be best promoted by abstaining from all attempts 
to make radical changes in the existing financial legislation. Let it be 
understood that during the coming year the business of the country wUl 
be undisturbed by governmental interference with the laws affecting it, 
and we may confidently expect that the resumption of specie payments, 
which will take place at the appointed time, wiU be successfully and 
easily maintained, and that it will be followed by a healthful and endur- 
ing revival of business prosperity. 

Let the healing influence of time, the inherent energies of our people, 
and the boundless resources of our country have a fair opportunity, and 
relief from present difiiculties will surely follow. 

It is hardly necessary to say that on January 2, 1879 (the 1st 
falling on Sunday), as the law had directed, the resumption of 
specie payments, the possibility and propriety of which had been 
the subject for years of such fierce party contention and acri- 
monious dispute, became an accomplished fact, without a ripple 
of excitement in the financial world. It bemg known that any 
one could have gold for greenbacks at the subtreasury in New 
York for the asking, nobody cared for gold. Instead of a run on 
the subtreasury, which had freely been predicted, only $135,000 
of notes was presented for coin on January 2, while $400,000 of 
gold was exchanged for notes ! From that time on, the gold basis 

* Mr. Hayes wrote in his diary November 6: "The elections of yesterday 
show very gratifying results. The States of New England are solid for sound 
principles. . . . Everywhere in the North we are stronger than in any off j'ear 
since the war, except possibly in 1866 when Johnson was overwhelmed. The 
South is substantially solid against us. . . ." 



132 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

of our currency, seriously threatened though it has been on oc- 
casion by the silver madness, has steadfastly been maintained. 
How much the country owes to President Hayes's confident 
belief in the possibility of resumption under the law of 1875, 
while so large a proportion of the public men and the financiers 
of the country were giving way to doubts and fears; how much 
it owes to his unwavering determination to execute the law, 
and to the wisdom and energy with which Secretary Sherman 
enforced that determination, can hardly be overestimated. No 
one who can recall, or who will now take the trouble to inform 
himself of the currents of financial opinion that were swaying 
the minds of men in that period, can reasonably doubt that had 
the President pursued a hesitating or vacillating course, the 
Resumption Law would have been repealed or more seriously 
emasculated, and the investing public would have lacked the 
stimulus of confidence, which the Administration applied, and 
which was necessary to insure success. In that event, resump- 
tion might indefinitely have been postponed. 

The consummation of resumption, the knowledge that every 
dollar was now a gold dollar, that the circulating medium was 
no longer to be a fluctuating quantity, whose value, for the day, 
no one could know without consulting the quotations of the Gold 
Exchange, inspired the financial and commercial world ^\ath an 
instant access of confidence and hopefulness. Renewed alacrity 
and energy and enterprise began to be manifest in the business 
world, and the revival of industry rapidly gained momentum. 
In the next few months Secretary Sherman was able to refund 
in four per cent bonds all the outstanding five-twenty six per 
cent bonds, and, likewise, under a new act of Congress all the 
ten-forty sixes. In one day in April he had offers for $159,000,- 
000 of the new bonds. ^ Thus, in slightly more than two years, 

* Bonds in small denominations were offered for popular subscription and for 
these there was a great demand. May 24, 1879, Mr. Hayes writes in his diary: 
" A novel spectacle in this city for some days past. The same thing doubtless 
in all of the large cities. The postmasters, collectors, and subtreasurers have had 
authority to sell small four per cent bonds — not more than one hundred dollars 
to the same person, so as widely to distribute them among small investors, 
among the people of small means. These bonds are now at a premium of two 
to four per cent. Speculators employ parties to buy for them. Two dollars is 
made every time one hundred dollars is bought. The poor themselves also rush 
to get them. The consequence is great crowds of negroes, women, boys, etc.. 




MRS. LUCY WEBB HAYES 
From a ])hotograph by Sarony in 1877 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 133 

the Administration had accomplished the "impracticable" task 
of resumption and had placed the credit of the country on the 
firmest foundations on which it had ever rested. In his mes- 
sage of December 1, 1879, the President, with pardonable pride, 
could present this narrative of the Government's financial 
operations : — 

The most interesting events which have occurred in our public afiFairs 
since my last annual message to Congress are connected with the finan- 
cial operations of the Government, directly affecting the business inter- 
ests of the country. I congratulate Congress on the successful execution 
of the Resumption Act. At the time fixed, and in the manner contem- 
plated by law, United States notes began to be redeemed in coin. Since 
the 1st of January last they have been promptly redeemed on presenta- 
tion, and in all business transactions, public and private, in all parts of 
the country, they are received and paid out as the equivalent of coin. 
The demand upon the Treasury for gold and silver in exchange for 
United States notes has been comparatively small, and the voluntary 
deposit of coin and bullion in exchange for notes has been very large. 
The excess of the precious metals deposited or exchanged for United 
States notes over the amount of United States notes redeemed is about 
$40,000,000. 

The resumption of specie payments has been followed by a very great 
revival of business. With a currency equivalent in value to the money 
of the commercial world, we are enabled to enter upon an equal com- 
petition with other nations in trade and production. The increasing 
foreign demand for our manufactures and agricultural products has 
caused a large balance of trade in our favor, which has been paid in 
gold, from the 1st of July last to November 15, to the amount of about 
$59,000,000. Since the resumption of specie payments there has also 
been a marked and gratifying improvement of the public credit. The 
bonds of the Government bearing only four per cent interest have been 
sold at or above par, sufficient in amount to pay off all of the national 
debt which was redeemable under present laws. The amount of inter- 
est saved annually by the process of refunding the debt, since March 
1, 1877, is $14,297,177. The bonds sold were largely in small sums, 
and the number of our citizens now holding the public securities is much 
greater than ever before. The amount of the national debt which ma- 
tures within less than two years is $792,121,700, of which $500,000,000 
bear interest at the rate of five per cent, and the balance is in bonds 
bearing six per cent interest. It is believed that this part of the public 

etc., gather daily at the Treasury in long procession — each in turn to get his 
one hundred dollars' worth of bonds. This morning, as early as 7 a.m., the whole 
open space at the north end of the Treasury was filled with the 'cue ' of investors. 
Some go to sell their places in the cue or procession; and do so at from ten to 
twenty cents, or more, according to proximity to the selling desk." 



134 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

debt can be refunded by the issue of four per cent bonds, and, by the 
reduction of interest wliich will thus be effected, about eleven millions of 
dollars can be annually saved to the Treasury. To secure this important 
reduction of interest to be paid by the United States, further legislation 
is required, which, it is hoped, will be provided by Congress during its 
present session. 

The coinage of gold by the mints of the United States during the last 
fiscal year was $40,986,912. The coinage of silver dollars, since the pass- 
age of the act for that purpose up to November 1, 1879, was $45,000,850, 
of which $12,700,344 have been issued from the Treasury, and are now in 
circulation, and $32,300,506 are still in the possession of the Government. 

The pendency of the proposition for unity of action between the 
United States and the principal commercial nations of Europe, to effect 
a permanent system for the equality of gold and silver in the recognized 
money of the world, leads me to recommend that Congress refram from 
new legislation on the general subject. The great revival of trade, inter- 
nal and foreign, will supply during the coming year its own instructions, 
which may well be awaited before attempting further experimental 
measures with the coinage. I would, however, strongly urge upon Con- 
gress the importance of authorizing the Secretary- of the Treasury to 
suspend the coinage of silver dollars upon the present legal ratio. The 
market value of the silver dollar being uniformly and largely less than 
the market value of the gold dollar, it is obviously impracticable to 
maintain them at par with each other if both are coined without limit. 
If the cheaper coin is forced into circulation, it will, if coined without 
limit, soon become the sole standard of value, and thus defeat the de- 
sired object, which is a currency of both gold and silver, which shall be 
of equivalent value, dollar for dollar, with the universally recognized 
money of the world. 

The retirement from circulation of United States notes, with the 
capacity of legal tender in private contracts, is a step to be taken in our 
progress toward a safe and stable currency, which should be accepted as 
the policy and duty of the Government and the interest and security of 
the people. It is my firm conviction that the issue of legal-tender paper 
money based wholly upon the authority and credit of the Government, 
except in extreme emergency, is without warrant in the Constitution, 
and a violation of sound financial principles. The issue of United States 
notes during the late Civil War with the capacity of legal tender be- 
tween private individuals was not authorized except as a means of rescu- 
ing the country from imminent peril. The circulation of these notes as 
paper monc", for any protracted period of time after the accomplish- 
ment of this purpose, was not contemplated by the framers of the law 
under which they were issued. They anticipated the redemption and 
withdrawal of these notes at the earliest practicable period consistent 
with the attainment of the object for which they were provided. 

The policy of the United States, steadily adhered to from the adop- 
tion of the Constitution, has been to avoid the creation of a national 



I 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 135 

debt; and when, from necessity in time of war, debts have been created, 
they have been paid off on the return of peace as rapidly as possible. 
With this view, and for this purpose, it is recommended that the existing 
laws for the accumulation of a sinking fund sufficient to extinguish the 
public debt within a limited period be maintained. If any change of 
the objects or rates of taxation is deemed necessary by Congress, it 
is suggested that experience has shown that a duty can be placed on 
tea and coffee, which will not enhance the price of those articles to the 
consumer, and which will add several millions of dollars annually to 
the Treasury. 

To the recommendations of the President in regard neither to 
the silver coinage nor to the retirement of the greenbacks did 
Congress pay any heed. The sentiment in favor of both forms 
of currency still dominated the public mind. Even Secretary 
Sherman did not approve of the President's views regarding the 
greenbacks, being entirely content " to hold on to the progress 
made in making United States notes equivalent to coin rather 
than to attempt to secure their retirement from circulation," ^ 
Congress refrained during this session from any financial legis- 
lation, the success of resumption, the growing revenues, and the 
great and general increase in prosperity and business activity 
making it difficult for the advocates of "cheap money" to com- 
mand a hearing. In so favorable a condition were the finances 
of the country felt to be that in their national platform in 1880 
the Republicans merely rehearsed the financial accomplishments 
of their period of power and made no commitments for the future; 
while the Democrats declared for "honest money consisting of 
gold and silver, and paper convertible to coin on demand," and 
for "the strict maintenance of the public faith." 

In his last annual message, December 6, 1880, Mr. Hayes 
made a final, unavailing plea both for the retirement of the 
greenbacks and for an honest silver dollar, saying : — 

* Recollections, chapter xxxix. In this connection the following entry in Mr. 
Hayes's diary, of July 24, 1879, is interesting: "Sherman made an effective 
speech at Portland yesterday. He is now a candidate for the Republican Presi- 
dential nomination. I would make two criticisms [on the speech]: 1. It givea 
encouragement to sectionalism. 2. It is not sound on the financial question. 
On the latter question, he expresses the opinion that legal-tender notes ought to 
be, or may very well be, a part of the paper currency of the country. Now in my 
opinion (1) these notes are not in time of peace a constitutional currency, and 
(2) they are a dangerous currency, depending as they do wholly on congressional 
discretion as to their amount, their issue, and all of their functions." 



136 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The continuance of specie payments has not been interrupted or 
endangered since the date of resumption. It has contributed greatly to 
the revival of business and to our remarkable prosperity. The fears 
that preceded and accompanied resumption have proved groundless. 

No considerable amount of United States notes have been presented 
for redemption, while very large sums of gold bullion, both domestic 
and imported, are taken to the mints and exchanged for coin or notes. 
The increase of coin and bullion in the United States since January 1, 
1879, is estimated at $227,399,428. 

There are still in existence, uncancelled, $346,681,016 of United States 
legal-tender notes. These notes were authorized as a war measure, made 
necessary by the exigencies of the conflict in which the United States 
was then engaged. The preservation of the nation's existence required, 
in the judgment of Congress, an issue of legal-tender paper money. 
That it served well the purpose for which it was created is not ques- 
tioned, but the employment of the notes as paper money indefinitely, 
after the accomplishment of the object for which they were provided, 
was not contemplated by the framers of the law under which they were 
issued. These notes long since became, like any other pecuniary obliga- 
tion of the Government, a debt to be paid, and, when paid, to be can- 
celled as a mere evidence of an indebtedness no longer existing. I, there- 
fore, repeat what was said in the annual message of last year, that the 
retirement from circulation of United States notes, with the capacity of 
legal tender in private contracts, is a step to be taken in our progress 
toward a safe and stable currency, which should be accepted as the pol- 
icy and duty of the Government and the interest and security of the 
people. 

At the time of the passage of the act now in force requiring the coinage 
of silver dollars, fixing their value and giving them legal-tender charac- 
ter, it was believed by many of the supporters of the measure that the 
silver dollar, which it authorized, would speedily become, under the 
operations of the law, of equivalent value to the gold dollar. There were 
other supporters of the bill, who, while they doubted as to the proba- 
bility of this result, nevertheless were willing to give the proposed experi- 
ment a fair trial, with a view to stop the coinage, if experience should 
prove that the silver dollar authorized by the bill continued to be of less 
commercial value than the standard gold dollar. 

The coinage of silver dollars, under the act referred to, began in 
March, 1878, and has been continued as required by the act. The aver- 
age rate per month to the present time has been $2,276,492. The total 
amount coined prior to the 1st of November last was $72,847,750. Of 
this amount $47,084,450 remain in the Treasury, and only $25,763,291 
are in the hands of the people. A constant effort has been made to keep 
this currency in circulation, and considerable expense has been neces- 
sarily incurred for this purpose; but its return to the Treasury is prompt 
and sure. Contrary to the confident anticipation of the friends of 
the measure at the time of its adoption, the value of the silver dollar, 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 137 

containing 412| grains of silver, has not increased. During the year 
prior to the passage of the bill authorizing its coinage, the market value 
of the silver which it contained was from ninety to ninety-two cents, 
as compared with the standard gold dollar. During the last year the 
average market value of the silver dollar has been eighty-eight and a 
half cents. 

It is obvious, that the legislation of the last Congress in regard to 
silver, so far as it was based on an anticipated rise in the value of silver 
as a result of that legislation, has failed to produce the effect then pre- 
dicted. The longer the law remains in force, requiring as it does the 
coinage of a nominal dollar which in reality is not a dollar, the greater 
becomes the danger that this country will be forced to accept a single 
metal as the sole legal standard of value in circulation, and this a stand- 
ard of less value than it purports to be worth in the recognized money of 
the world. 

The Constitution of the United States, sound financial principles, and 
our best interests, all require that the country should have as its legal- 
tender money both gold and silver coin, of an intrinsic value, as bullion, 
equivalent to that which, upon its face, it purports to possess. The Con- 
stitution in express terms recognizes both gold and silver as the only 
true legal-tender money. To banish either of these metals from our cur- 
rency is to narrow and limit the circulating medium of exchange to the 
disparagement of important interests. The United States produces 
more silver than any other country, and is directly interested in main- 
taining it as one of the two precious metals which furnish the coinage of 
the world. It will, in my judgment, contribute to this result if Congress 
will repeal so much of existing legislation as requires the coinage of silver 
dollars containing only 412^ grains of silver, and in its stead will au- 
thorize the Secretary of the Treasury to coin silver dollars of equivalent 
value, as bullion, with gold dollars. This will defraud no man and will 
be in accordance with familiar precedents. Congress, on several occa- 
sions, has altered the ratio of value between gold and silver, in order to 
establish it more nearly in accordance with the actual ratio of value 
between the two metals. 

In financial legislation every measure in the direction of greater fidel- 
ity in the discharge of pecuniary obligation has been found by experience 
to diminish the rates of interest which debtors are required to pay and 
to increase the facility with which money can be obtained for every 
legitimate purpose. Our own recent financial history shows how surely 
money becomes abundant whenever confidence in the exact perform-^ 
ance of moneyed obligations is established. 

In this message also Mr. Hayes directed the attention of Con- 
gress to the fact that six hundred millions of five and six per cent 
bonds would soon be redeemable, and recommended prompt 
legislation to enable the Treasury Department to refund them 



138 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

at a lower rate. Congress, after long debate, finally, on March 1, 
sent a Refunding Bill ^ to the President, which contained such 
objectionable features that he was unable to affix his signature, 
and, on March 3, he returned it with this veto message: — 

To THE House of Represemtatives : 

Having considered the bill entitled "An act to facilitate the refunding 
of the national debt," I am constrained to return it to the House of 
Represeiitatives, in which it originated, with the following statement 
of my objections to its passage. 

The imperative necessity for prompt action, and the pressure of 
public duties in this closing week of my term of office, compel me to 
refrain from any attempt to make a full and satisfactory presentation 
of the objections to the bill. 

The importance of the passage at the present session of Congress of 
a suitable measure for the refunding of the national debt, which is about 
to mature, is generally recognized. It has been urged upon the atten- 
tion of Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury and in my last annual 
message. If successfully accomplished, it will secure a large decrease in 
the annual interest payment of the nation; and I earnestly recommend, 
if the bill before me shall fail, that another measure for this purpose be 
adopted before the present Congress adjourns. 

While in my opinion it would be wise to authorize the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in his discretion, to offer to the public bonds bearing three 
and one-half per cent interest in aid of refunding, I should not deem it 
my duty to interpose my constitutional objection to the passage of the 
present bill if it did not contain, in its fifth section, provisions which in 
my judgment seriously impair the value and tend to the destruction of 
the present National Banking system of the country. This system has 
now been in operation almost twenty years. No safer or more beneficial 
banking system was ever established. Its advantages as a business are 
free to all who have the necessary capital. It furnishes a currency to the 
public which for convenience and the security of the bill-holder has 
probably never been equalled by that of any other banking system. Its 
notes are secured by the deposit with the Government of the interest- 
bearing Ijonds of the United States. 

1 The bill as originally drawn provided for three and one-half per cent bonds 
to the amount of $500,000,000 and three and one-half per cent notes to the 
amount of $200,000,000, redeemable at pleasure, to be used in retiring any bonds 
as they became redeemable, par for par. Mr. Sherman says {Recollections, chap- 
ter XLi) : " Had this bill passed, as introduced, any time before the 4th of March, 
1881, it would have saved the United States enormous sums of money and would 
have greatly strengthened the public credit. It was in harmony with the recom- 
mendations made by the President and by myself in our annual reports. . . . 
Instead of this action, amendments of the wildest character were ofifered, and the 
committet' which reported the bill acquiesced in radical changes, which made 
the execution of the law, if passed, practically impossible." 



! 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 139 

The section of the bill before me which relates to the National Bank- 
ing system, and to which objection is made, is not an essential part of a 
refunding measure. It is as follows : — 

"Sec. 5. From and after the 1st day of July, 1881, the three per cent 
bonds authorized by the first section of this act shall be the only bonds 
receivable as security for National-Bank circulation, or as security for 
the safe-keeping and prompt payment of the public money deposited 
with such banks; but when any such bonds deposited for the purposes 
aforesaid shall be designated for purchase or redemption by the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, the banking association depositing the same shall 
have the right to substitute other issues of the bonds of the United States 
in lieu thereof : Provided, That no bond upon which interest has ceased 
shall be accepted or shall be continued on deposit as securitj'^ for circula- 
tion or for the safe-keeping of the public money ; and in case bonds so 
deposited shall not be withdrawn, as provided by law, within thirty 
days after interest has ceased thereon, the banking association depositing 
the same sliall be subject to the liabilities and proceedings on the part 
of the Comptroller provided for in section 5234 of the Revised Statutes 
of the United States: And provided further, That section 4 of the Act of 
June 20, 1874, entitled 'An Act fixing the amount of United States notes 
providing for a redistribution of the National-Bank currency, and for 
other purposes,' be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and sections 5159 
and 5160 of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same 
are hereby, reenacted." 

Under this section is is obvious that no additional banks will hereafter 
be organized, except possibly in a few cities or localities where the pre- 
vailing rates of interest in ordinary business are extremely low. No new 
banks can be organized, and no increase of the capital of existing banks 
can be obtained, except by the purchase and deposit of three per cent 
bonds. No other bonds of the United States can be used for the jsurpose. 
The one thousand millions of other bonds recently issued by the United 
States, and bearing a higher rate of interest than three per cent, and 
therefore a better security for the bill-holder, cannot, after the 1st of 
July next, be received as security for bank circulation. This is a radical 
change in the banking law. It takes from the banks the right they have 
heretofore had under the law to purchase and deposit, as security' for 
their circulation, any of the bonds issued by the United States, and 
deprives the bill-holder of the best security which the banks are able to 
give, by requiring them to deposit bonds having the least value of any 
bonds issued by the Government. 

The average rate of taxation of capital employed in banking is more 
than double the rate of taxation upon capital employed in other legiti- 
mate business. Under these circumstances, to amend the banking law 
so as to deprive the banks of the privilege of securing their notes by the 
most valuable bonds issued by the Government will, it is believed, in a 
large part of the country, be a practical prohibition of the organization 
of new banks, and prevent the existing banks from enlarging their capital. 



UO RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The National Banking system, if continued at all, will be a monopoly 
in the hands of those already engaged in it, who may purchase govern- 
ment bonds bearing a more favorable rate of interest than the three per 
cent bonds prior to next July. 

To prevent the further organization of banks is to put in jeopardy the 
whole system by taking from it that feature which makes it, as it now is, 
a banking system free upon the same terms to all who wish to engage in 
it. Even the existing banks will be in danger of being driven from busi^ 
ness by the additional disadvantages to which they will be subjected by 
this bill. In short, I cannot but regard the fifth section of the bill as a 
step in the direction of the destruction of the National Banking system. 

Our country, after a long period of business depression, has just 
entered upon a career of unexampled prosperity. 

The withdrawal of the currency from circulation of the National 
Banks and the enforced windmg up of the banks in consequence, would 
inevitably bring serious embarrassment and disaster to the business of 
the country. Banks of issue are essential instruments of modern com- 
merce. If the present efficient and admirable system of banking is broken 
down, it will inevitably be followed by a recurrence to other and inferior 
methods of banking. Any measure looking to such a result will be a 
disturbing element in our financial system. It will destroy confidence 
and surely check the growing prosperity of the country. 

Believing that a measure for refunding the national debt is not neces- 
sarily connected with the National Banking Law, and that any refund- 
ing act would defeat its own object if it imperilled the National Banking 
system or seriously impaired its usefulness, and convinced that section 
5 of the bill before me would, if it should become a law, work great 
harm, I herewith return the bill to the House of Representatives for that 
further consideration which is provided for in the Constitution. 

Rutherford B. Hayes. 

Executive Mansion, March 3, 1881. 

This veto message was the last service rendered by ISIr. Hayes, 
as President, to the cause of sound finance.^ Throughout his 
incumbency, with the possible exception of his failure to veto 
the bill repealing the clause of the Resumption Law providing 
for the retirement of greenbacks in excess of $300,000,000, he 
had adhered consistently in word and action to the cause of 
sound money and had unfaltermgly insisted on the sacredness 

1 "This last important official act of President Hayes gives him a new title 
to the grateful respect of his countrymen. Those of his own party, who have 
joined with the worst elements of the opposition to thwart and embarrass his 
Administration, have seen it close amid expressions of hearty good-will from all 
sides, and sure of a constantly increasing regard hereafter." {Uarpers Weekly, 
editorial. March 19, 1881.) 



RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS 141 

of the national obligations. Undoubtedly the country would 
have been spared many anxious years if the financial principles 
and policy that he presented and impressively advocated could 
have been adopted and mamtained. As it was, the course he 
pursued and the counsel he gave had vast influence in checking 
the prevalence of financial heresy and renewing the confidence 
of the country in the controlling purposes and soundness of the 
Republican party. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 

DURING the first session of the Forty-fifth Congress, which 
lasted until June 20, 1878, no measures of great and gen- 
eral importance, apart from those relating to the public finances, 
became laws. But near the end of the session an echo of the 
disputed election contest was heard, which renewed for a time 
the partisan passions which had stirred the country during the 
winter of 1876-77, and which the better sentiment of all parties 
had hoped that the action of the Electoral Commission had 
permanently allayed. It was too much to expect, however, that 
the more radical Democratic politicians, incensed at the decision 
of the commission, should not seek to keep alive in the breasts 
of Democratic voters the feeling that they had been the victims 
of injustice and injury. Mr. Tilden himself, who doubtless ex- 
pected a renomination in 1880, had no thought of allo-^Tng the 
"fraud issue" to sink out of sight. In a speech from the steps of 
his house in Gramercy Park, New York, on his return from a trip 
to Europe, in October, 1877, he had manifested great bitter- 
ness of spirit at the frustration of his hopes. The cause he 
represented, he grandiloquently said, "embraced the largest 
and holiest interests of humanity"; but it had suffered defeat 
through the perpetration of "a great fraud which the American 
people have not condoned, and never will condone — never, 
never, never." Mr. Tilden's close political friends were equally 
unreconciled; equally assertive of the righteousness of the Demo- 
cratic cause; equally confident of popular vindication when the 
voters should again have opportunity to express their senti- 
ments. The Democratic press rang the changes upon "the great 
fraud," with constant iteration, in all the ways that journahstic 
ingenuity or partisan malevolence could suggest. In this in- 
cendiary^ activity the most persistent and malignant newspaper 
detractor of the President was the New York Sun. Whether 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 143 

the Democratic politicians and editors, in the policy they were 
now pursuing, had anything definite in mind more than this, to 
make party capital for use in the approaching congressional 
election and in the next Presidential contest, is not absolutely 
certain, though widely prevalent contemporary opinion, as we 
shall see, — which was by no means confined to Republicans, — 
found abimdant reasons for charging them with revolutionary 
designs. 

Already in Louisiana efforts had been made to prove that the 
members of the Returning Board had been guilty of crime in 
canvassing the vote. It had been the understanding of the Presi- 
dent, when he left Louisiana free of federal interference in 
settling its state election controversies, that political bygones 
should be ignored; that in the interest of amity and general good 
feeling the now dominant party would refrain from partisan 
reprisal or anything that savored of political prosecution, being 
content to estabhsh a new era of just and honest administration. 
The voluntary pledges of the Louisiana Legislature and the 
promises of Governor Nicholls, doubtless given in good faith, 
had justified this understanding. The conservative elements of 
the Louisiana people were undoubtedly favorable to this wise 
policy. But there were many men of less temperate quality, 
characterized as Bourbons, who refused to be conciliated. In 
July, 1877, criminal proceedings were begun at New Orleans 
against the four members of the Returning Board on the charge 
that they had uttered forged and counterfeit returns from the 
Parish of Vernon, greatly increasing the vote for the Hayes 
electors and greatly diminishing the vote for the Tilden electors. 
One member of the board, Thomas C. Anderson, was put on 
trial in the following January, was found guilty by the jury 
(which recommended mercy), and sentenced to the penitentiary 
for two years. Effort was made unavailingly to have the case 
transferred to the federal jurisdiction. It was manifest by the 
course of the proceedings and the temper of public sentiment in 
New Orleans that the trial was induced by a spirit of political 
retaliation and that conviction was a foregone conclusion. The 
evidence failed to prove that Anderson had anything to do with 
altering the figures. At once there were demands on Governor 
Nicholls to pardon Anderson. It is altogether likely that he 



144 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

would have done so.^ But Anderson immediately appealed to 
the Supreme Court, and on March 18 the court set aside the ver- 
dict and discharged the prisoner. Chief Justice Manning in the 
ruling opinion held virtually that the offense charged, if com- 
mitted, was not made criminal by the existing law. Under this 
decision, which brought dismay and chagrin to the Bourbons, 
further prosecution was seen to be useless and the cases against 
the other members of the Board were dropped.^ The trial of 
Anderson, however, afforded the Democratic papers oppor- 
tunity to discuss anew the Louisiana election muddle and to 
pay their respects to the characters of some of the men that had 
been engaged in its settlement. It had, of course, to be acknowl- 
edged that not all the Louisiana Republican election officers and 
agents were men that had borne unsullied reputations. But, 
whatever reputations they had earned by their previous lives, 
persons of sober judgment who were informed of the facts of the 
election, could have slight hesitation in believing that in their 
canvass of the votes of 1876 these men had not only not exceeded 
the discretionary powers of their office, but had simply per- 
formed their manifest duty under the law and had reached the 
right and equitable conclusion. 

Besides the general feeling among Democrats of dissatisfaction 
and chagrin at their failure before the Electoral Commission, 

^ "The topic of interest now, next to the Silver Bill, is the Anderson prosecu- 
tion in New Orleans. I put it as a simple question of good faith — of honor on 
the part of Louisiana. Suppose all of the facts proved against Anderson to have 
existed — but suppose the Returning Board had counted the State for Tilden. 
Would there have been any prosecution? Nobody believes there would. Is it 
not a clear case, then, within the resolutions of the NichoUs Legislature, and the 
letter of Governor Nicholls? Believing the affirmative I rely upon, I trust the 
honor of Governor Nicholls." (Diary, February 15, 1878.) 

^ "The Returning Board prosecutions are ended by the decision of the Su- 
preme Court of Louisiana. No doubt the court found legal grounds for its de- 
cision. But the favorable fact is that the court followed the best public opinion 
of Louisiana in opposition to the wishes of the Bourbons. The rufEan class, the 
implacables, and the press were for the severest punishment — determined to 
persecute the members of the Board to the bitter end. For the first time the 
better classes have overruled the violent. Pacification begins to tell." (Diary, 
March 21, 1878.) 

The same day Mr. Hayes wrote to Mrs. Hayes: "The end of the Returning 
Board persecution is very welcome to friends of the Southern policy, and by no 
means satisfactory to the implacables. For the first time in the South the public 
opinion of the better elements has overcome the wishes of the ruffian class." 



I 

I 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 145 

several specific circumstances prepared the way for the action 
of the Democratic Congressmen who were determined to re- 
open the case in the effort to prove that the decisions of the 
Returning Boards in Florida and Louisiana in favor of the Re- 
publican electors had been procured by fraud, or at least by 
corrupt influences. In December, 1877, William E. Chandler, 
member of the Republican National Committee from New 
Hampshire, who had been most active in the campaign of 1876, 
who had had charge of the Republican cause before the Return- 
ing Board of Florida, and had assisted the Republican counsel 
in preparing the Florida case for presentation before the Elec- 
toral Commission, published a letter to the Republicans of New 
Hampshire, on the eve of their state convention, in condemna- 
tion of the President's Southern policy, which attracted wide 
attention.^ Mr. Chandler was thoroughly convinced that the 
Republicans were fairly entitled to the state oflBcers in the three 
disputed Southern States, and he was furiously indignant at 
President Hayes for not recognizing Chamberlain and Packard 
as the rightful Governors of South Carolina and Louisiana and 
then sustaining them by the power of the Federal Government. 
In his letter, which with other documents was subsequently 
printed in pamphlet form, Mr. Chandler charged that "assur- 
ances were freely and forcibly given by Mr. Senator Sherman 
and his associates" to the Returning Board of Louisiana, that 
"they themselves should be protected from evil consequences" 
if they performed the "extraordinary even if justifiable work, in 
the face of an armed and infuriated Democracy," of correcting 
the returns; and that "Mr. Stanley Matthews declared ... on 
more than one occasion that Hayes and Packard should stand 
or fall together." But "almost the first act of the new Adminis- 
tration was to fulfil a bargain that had been made during the 
Presidential count, by which, if Hayes should be President, the 
lawful governments of Louisiana and South Carolina were to 
be abandoned, and the mob-governments in these States were 
to be recognized and established." And much more to the same 
effect, with adroit array of circumstances and skilful special 

* In spite of the letter and In spite of a speech of similar intent by Mr. 
Chandler before the State Committee, the New Hampshire convention adopted 
a resolution commending the President's course. 



146 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

pleading, which ignored conflicting facts of common knowledge 
and convincing force. 

The virtual charge was that the Louisiana Returning Board, 
while simply doing its unquestionable duty, had done so only 
as the result of a bargain made with it by " ISIr. Senator Sherman 
and his associates"; and that the President had then failed 
to carry out this "bargain," but had carried out a subsequent 
"bargain" of a very different character, "made during the 
Presidential count." How baseless the latter accusation was 
has already been shown. ^ And now Mr. Sherman instantly 
denied that he had any part in any bargaining either express or 
implied. His word was sufficient with all reasonable men to 
carry conviction. But the Democratic politicians and papers, 
eager to seize any chance or to use any pretext to keep the 
"great fraud issue" before the public mind, treated the Chandler 
"revelations" as matter worthy of the most serious considera- 
tion; and suggestions began to be made by the more radical 
that a congressional inquiry, looking to an attack on the Presi- 
dent's title to his oflSce, should be instituted. Intimations were 
made even that such an attack would not be disagreeable to 
certain of the Republican irreconcilables who disapproved of the 
Southern policy and who were exasperated to the point of anger 
at the President's persistent adhesion to civil service reform and 
anti-spoils principles. But the great body of sensible opinion 
deprecated any reopening of the electoral dispute. The question 
had been settled by the instrumentality specially created, with 
the aid and sanction of both parties actmg in patriotic unison; 
and whatever any individual might think of the propriety or 
equity of the settlement, the settlement itself should be regarded 
as absolutely final. Any attempt now to impugn its validity 
could only be attended with mischievous consequences; any 
thought of seeking to reverse it would be a breach of good faith, 
tantamount to purposes of revolution. 

The Democratic Legislature of Maryland, under the leader- 
ship of Mr. Montgomery Blair, was ready for this revolutionary 
attempt. Early in January, Mr. Blair introduced in the House of 
Delegates a long memorial addressed "to the Senate and House 
of Representatives in Congress assembled," asserting among 
* See concluding paragraphs of chapter xxviii. 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 147 

other things that the act creating the Electoral Commission pro- 
vided that no decision under that act should preclude a judicial 
decision of the question; that the obvious intent was to assure 
the people that the question should be determined on its merits 
by the proper judicial tribunal if the commission held itself in- 
competent to render such a decision; that the commission had so 
held, and that, — 

In consequence of this decision, the present incumbent of the Presi- 
dential chair was seated by virtue of returns which were notoriously false 
and fraudulent, and were so in effect admitted by Justice Strong, whose 
vote seated him, and also by the incumbent himself, in disregarding 
those returns as respects state officers whose titles to office were also 
based upon them, and were in every respect identical with his own. 

Wherefore the memorialists prayed "that needful legislation be 
adopted to ascertain judicially who was elected President at the 
recent election, and to give effect to the will of the people." A 
motion to lay the memorial on the table was overwhelmingly 
voted down; whereupon it was referred to the Committee on 
Federal Relations, in whose hands it remained for a month. But 
the memorial afforded further occasion for public dispute and 
gave some indication of the trend of thought among the irrecon- 
cilable Democrats. Finally the committee reported the memorial, 
advising sensibly against its adoption. Mr. Blair then moved a 
series of resolutions as a substitute for the report in which it was 
declared that Congress, "by failing to supply the legislation 
required to enforce the judicial investigation of this fraud, . . . 
sanctions and invites its repetition in the future and endangers 
the peace of the country and the stability of republican institu- 
tions"; and goodness knows what else. Only let Congress pass 
David Dudley Field's proposed quo warranto bill, urged INIr. 
Blair, in advocating the adoption of his substitute, and "it would 
not require sixty days to give effect to the will of the people." 
"There is not a disputed fact nor a doubtful point of law involved 
in the proceedings under Mr. Field's bill to seat Mr. Tilden. His 
political adversaries now desire to give him the seat." After a 
long debate the substitute for the report was adopted and then 
on second thought the resolutions were rejected by a small 
majority. Not cast down by these rebuffs, however, the bold 
and pertinacious Mr. Blair, flattered, no doubt, by the sudden 



148 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

conspicuity which his vahant efforts in behalf of Mr. Tilden's 
lost cause had given his name in the public prints, presently 
offered a new resolution bearing on the subject, which was finally 
adopted. This instructed the Attorney-General of the State, in 
case Congress passed the necessary act, "to exhibit a bill in the 
Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the State of 
Maryland . . . setting forth the fact that due effect has not been 
given to the electoral vote cast by this State on the 6th day of 
December, 1876, by reason of fraudulent returns made from 
other States and allowed to be counted provisionally by the Elec- 
toral Commission, and subject to judicial revision, and praying 
said court to make the revision contemplated by the act estab- 
lishing said commission." This resolution was presented in Con- 
gress by Mr. Swann, of Maryland, referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, and ordered printed. Like Mr. Blair's previous 
performances it was the subject of wide comment. 

And constantly about Washington and in the newspapers the 
reports became more frequent and more definite to the effect that 
the Democratic leaders in Congress were preparing in some way 
to reopen the Presidential controversy and attack the title of 
Mr. Hayes, which the country had been glad to believe was finally 
closed and irrevocably settled by the Electoral Commission and 
the Forty-fourth Congress. These rumors caused uneasiness 
and alarm in the minds of sensible people. The conservative 
influences of the country were utterly opposed to any movement 
calculated to disturb existing conditions. The President's title 
was impregnable and unassailable. It had been established by 
resort to special and extraordinary methods, adopted by the 
concurrence of the overwhelming majority of Congress of both 
parties. These methods had been approved and applauded by 
universal public sentiment, and the result attained thereby had 
been accepted by the whole country as absolutely conclusive. 
To challenge that result now would be nothing less than revolu- 
tionary; would plunge the country into chaos and would become 
a precedent for the future whose evil consequences no finite intel- 
ligence could foresee. Not one single good purpose was to be 
served by any new investigation, if that was all that was con- 
templated, of the facts of the election in the disputed States. 
The investigations made by committees of Congress in the weeks 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 149 

preceding the adjudication of the Electoral Commission had 
been exhaustive. What the country needed now from Congress 
was rest from partisan recrimination and wise efforts to aid in the 
restoration of prosperity and the development of our commercial 
and industrial resources. 

These considerations, in which conservative Democrats in and 
out of Congress concurred, did not shake the determination of 
the more radical Democratic leaders, who were gradually shaping 
their plans, becoming in the course of events more and more 
sanguine in their anticipation of partisan benefits to be attained. 
Late in April "confessions" of S. B. INIcLin, of the Florida Re- 
turning Board, and of minor election officers of Florida, especially 
one Dennis, appeared. Both these men had been disappointed in 
their office-seeking efforts. The former had been appointed Chief 
Justice of New Mexico, but had failed of confirmation by reason 
of the opposition of Senator Conover. The latter had received a 
minor place m the Treasury Department and had been dismissed 
for inattention to his duties. Both in consequence had been 
pricked in conscience and then struck out in blind anger at the 
President. McLin was now convinced, he said, that Florida's 
vote should have been counted for Tilden, though he wished it 
understood that he had acted conscientiously when he officially 
declared otherwise. But, he feebly proceeded: "Looking back 
now to that time, I feel that there was a combination of influences 
that must have operated most powerfully in blinding my judg- 
ment and swaying my action." Though "I cannot say how far 
my action may have been influenced by the intense excitement 
that prevailed around me, or how far my partisan zeal may have 
led me into error; neither can I say how far my course was influ- 
enced by the promises made by Governor Noyes, that if Mr. 
Hayes became President I should be rewarded. Certainly these 
influences must have had a strong control over my judgment and 
action." All of which might be interesting as a psychological 
study of himself by a disappointed office-seeker, embittered at 
his lack of success and eager for revenge, but the very state of 
mind which it disclosed was enough with sensible folk to discredit 
his confession of official turpitude. It was accepted, however, by 
the radical Democrats as evidence of prodigious importance. And 
so, too, were the "revelations " that were being peddled about by 



150 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

James E. Anderson, ex-supervisor of the Parish of East FeUciana, 
Louisiana, also a disappointed and discredited office-seeker. He 
was reputed to be fairly bursting with information implicating 
Secretary Sherman in a conspiracy to control the count of votes 
in Louisiana. 

So, after much caucusing among the Democrats of the House 
and consultations, as it was believed at the time, with INIr. 
Tilden, a resolution, wdth numerous preambles, demanding an 
investigation was formulated, and Clarkson N. Potter, of New 
York, was designated by the caucus to present it to the House as 
a question of privilege. This he did on May 13.^ The first pre- 
amble cited the Blair resolution of the Maryland Legislature; 
the second referred to the McLin affidavit accusing "Edward F. 
Noyes, now a minister for this Government to France," of im- 
proper conduct; the third dwelt on the alleged "conspiracy" of 
Republicans which resulted in the rejection by the Retiu-ning 
Board of Louisiana of the returns from the Feliciana Parishes, 
to whose consummation the "Honorable John Sherman, now 
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," was a party; 
and in the fourth this climax was reached: — 

1 Mr. Hayes, in his diary. May 14, writes of this action in these words: — 

"Various 'confessions' and statements lately made by McLin and Dennis, 
of Florida, and others of Louisiana, as to frauds in the elections, have caused the 
Tilden Democrats, aided by implacable Republicans of the Chandler sort, to 
threaten investigations. Yesterday Mr. Potter offered the resolution to go into 
it in the House. It is a partisan proceeding for merely partisan ends. If the 
Republicans manage well their side of the controversy, I suspect it will damage 
its authors. It should be opposed: — 

" 1. As partial and narrow. If investigation is to be had, it should embrace 
all the questions which have been raised touching the fairness and legality of the 
elections. 

"2. It is revolutionary; it looks to overthrowing the solemn adjudication 
of the commission as confirmed by Congress. Herein should be given a full 
history of the origin, purpose, and understanding as to the commission — the 
action of Congress, etc., etc. 

"3. It will disturb the business of the country. 

"4. It interrupts the course of pacification between the sections and races, 
and revives sectional strife and deepens the color line. 

"5. It is done by Tammany — by the New York rings. It is to continue the 
rule of New York in the Democratic party. Trace this power in the nomina- 
tions of 1864, 1868, 1872, and 1876 in the Democratic party. 

"6. It is not in the interest of the South. They want peace, education, im- 
provements, and immigration. 

"7. It is not in the interest of the country." 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 151 

Whkreas, The gravity of these charges, the nature of the evidence 
upon wliich they are reported to be based, and the official dignity and 
position of the persons named in connection with the said frauds make it 
proper the same should be inquired into to the end that the honor of 
the nation may be vindicated and the truth as to such elections made 
known. 

Therefore the resolution declared for the appointment of a 
select committee of eleven members " to inquire into the allega- 
tion as to the conduct" of Messrs. Sherman and Noyes in 
relation to the Louisiana and Florida count, and "into all the 
facts" which the committee might think pertinent regarduig 
the canvass of the votes in those two States. The Republicans 
contended that such a resolution could not be introduced as a 
question of privilege, unless, as Mr. Garfield urged, it was "a pro- 
ceeding intended to pave the way for an impeachment" of the 
President. "If it was a proposition by the House to raise and 
determine the question of the title of the present Chief Magis- 
trate, that question had been determined by the joint action of 
the two houses of Congress, and it was as much beyond the reach 
of this House as the election of Grant or Washington." Mr. 
Potter "absolutely and positively refused to declare any such 
purpose; his purpose was only to inquire." But he did not as 
absolutely and positively deny that "such a purpose" might be 
implied in the consequences of the inquiry, as was widely charged 
in contemporary comment. And Mr. Speaker Randall's care- 
fully prepared decision sustaining the Democratic contention 
gave added basis for such a charge. "A higher privilege," he 
said, " than the one here involved, and broadly and directly pre- 
sented, as to the rightful occupancy of the chief executive chair 
of the Government, . . . the Chair is unable to conceive." The 
Republicans appealed from the decision, but were outvoted. 

Thereupon the Republicans ^ made repeated efforts to broaden 
the scope of the investigation, so that inquiry should be made 
into the efforts of the Democrats to buy one of the electors of 
Oregon, as revealed by the cipher dispatches, which the Senate 
committee of the year before had unearthed. But the Demo- 
crats refused to make any change in their programme, thus 

^ Certain of the Democrats were in favor of making the inquiry general, but 
they were overruled by the caucus. 



152 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

indicating that they were bent upon a purely partisan inquiry.* 
The RepubHcans then abstained from voting, thus breaking 
the quorum (the famous Reed device of counting a quorum not 
yet havuig been evolved), and it was not untU May 17 that the 
Democrats were able to pass the resolution. The Republican 
Congressional Committee at once issued an address to the coun- 
try, declaring that the resolution was intended "to lay the 
foundation for a revolutionary expulsion of the President from 
his office." ^ It continued: ■ — 

Tills is the culmination of a plot which has Ijeen on foot from the 
day that Hayes and Wheeler were constitutionally declared elected. It 
made its first public appearance in the resolutions of the last Democratic 
House, adopted at the close of the session, declaring that Tilden and 
Hendricks were elected. Tilden and Hendricks subsequently made 
similar public declarations themselves. ... In other words, they [the 
Democrats] intend after hearing suborned evidence to bring in a verdict 
that Hayes is a usurper and that he shall not remain in office. . . . The 
Republicans offered to favor the fullest investigation into all alleged 
frauds by whichever party charged to have been committed, but the 
Democracy pursued its course shamelessly and relentlessly and stifled 
all inquiry into attempts at bribery in Oregon, South Carolina, and 
Louisiana, and violence in several of the States. Neither amendment nor 
debate was allowed. The inexorable previous question was applied and 
enforced. Tliis scheme if pursued — and it is now fully inaugurated — 
can only have the effect of further paralyzing business of all kinds and 
preventing the restoration of confidence, wliich seemed promising, cast- 
ing a gloom over every household and briaging our nation into reproach 
before the civilized world. 

^ Further, it was known that the Democratic caucus had rejected an amend- 
ment to the Potter resolution, proposed by Mr. Young, of Tennessee, and sup- 
ported by several of the more conservative members, especially from the South, 
which read: "But it is not intended by this proceeding to distm-b the present 
Chief Magistrate in the occupancy of his office, nor to impair public confidence 
in the policy he has inaugurated toward the Southern States." 

' That Mr. Hayes took the same view of the purpose of the investigation is 
intimated by the following entry in the diary of May 19: — 

"The House of Representatives has ordered an investigation of the elections 
in Florida and Louisiana. The resolutions adopted accuse Governor Noyes and 
Secretary Sherman of crookedness. It will do no more than raise a dust — throw 
dirt and the like, unless it is intended, as I seriously suspect, to lay a foundation 
for a revolution. There is a purpose with the real authors to reverse the result of 
the last election. If they are sustained in the elections there is danger. It is 
another rebellion! 

"Look up all letters from Noyes, Matthews, Chandler, to see the exact condi- 
tion of my correspondence. I neither knew nor suspected fraud on our side. 
The danger was fraud by our adversaries." 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 153 

This address fairly reflected the dominant tone of Republican 
thought. Indeed, one effect of the Democratic methods in passing 
the resolution was to bring the Republicans into closer harmony 
than they had been in support of the Administration. On the 
other hand, while the prevailing sentiment among the Democrats 
favored the investigation, there were murmurs of disapproval 
among the wiser leaders of the party, and some of these openly 
condemned the proceeding. Alexander H. Stephens denounced it 
repeatedly "as most unwise, most unfortunate, and most mis- 
chievous"; and he sagaciously predicted that the affair would 
"prove in the end either a contemptible farce or a horrible 
tragedy." ^ How this wise old statesman must have rejoiced 
at the fulfilment of his prophecy, even while he lamented the 
folly of his headstrong fellow partisans who would not heed his 
experienced advice! 

The indications of popular alarm at the threatened assault on 
the Wliite House were so numerous and the outcry of disappro- 
bation so distinct, that after a few days Mr. Potter sought in a 
long public letter to justify the peremptory action of the Demo- 
cratic majority in Congress and to allay the public apprehension 
regarding the purpose in view. That purpose, he declared, was 
"to ascertain the facts, so that if frauds be established, a repeti- 
tion of such frauds may be prevented, and if not, to clear up 
the general belief throughout the country that there were such 
frauds." He himself had not the slightest doubt that the Demo- 
crats were cheated out of the Presidency. "The whole thing was, 
as I thmk, a gigantic game, in which we held the cards and the 
Republicans bluffed us." The President's title rested upon the 
determination of the Electoral Commission to which ''every one 
submitted." That was true enough, but " if now it should appear 
that there was fraud, which palpably affected the electoral vote, 
and which the commission did not notice, and if a legal remedy ex- 
ists for correcting the error, ... or Congress should hereafter . . . 
provide one, why should the legal determination thereafter had 
produce disturbance.'*" "I do not mean," he said again, "that I 
expect the investigation to be followed by either legal or con- 
gressional action. TMiat, if anything, should be done because of 
the inquiry must depend on the results of the inquiry. But I 
' Letter of May 28 to the Washington Post. 



154 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

do mean that whatever action, if any, should follow the investi- 
gation, such action can neither disturb the order nor the pros- 
perity of the country." 

It was clear, therefore, from this careful balancing of phrases, 
that an effort to impugn the President's title to his office and to 
right "the great wrong" was entertained by the Democratic 
leaders as a possible if not probable outcome of the investigation. 
Only, they insisted, that any action they might take involved 
"not the slightest chance of revolution or disturbance." Don't 
be alarmed, they said, in effect; we may try to oust the President 
by some means or other; but there will be no disturbance — take 
our word for it ! It can easily be understood that such talk from 
the leader of the Democratic investigators was not calculated to 
reassure the public mind. 

And on the same day. May 28, as it happened, there was 
published also an open letter on the situation from Postmaster- 
General Key. It was addressed to the Southern people and was 
written in answer to many private letters received by Mr. Key 
from Southern men disavowing sjonpathy with any attack on 
the President's right to his office. Mr, Key was convinced, he 
wrote, by the circumstances attending the passage of the Potter 
resolution and by the declarations of Democratic politicians and 
journalists, "that if both houses of the Forty-sixth Congress are 
Democratic, the majority intend to oust President Hayes and 
inaugurate Mr. Tilden." But Mr. Hayes's "title was settled 
irrevocably by the Forty -fourth Congress"; the Forty-fifth 
Congress had no right to dispute his election; and "the Forty- 
sixth Congress will have no more right to ignore him and recog- 
nize his defeated contestant, Mr. Tilden, than Mr. Hayes would 
have to send a file of soldiers to the House of Representatives to 
unseat a Democrat whom he might consider to have been wrong- 
fully seated or fraudulently elected." Mr. Key reminded his 
readers that it was the patriotism of Southern members that 
compelled the completion of the count of the electoral vote when 
filibusters sought to prevent it. Now the Southern Representa- 
tives had yielded to caucus dictation in defiance of Southern 
sentiment. Let the Southern people therefore " afford a crowning 
evidence of their renewed devotion to the Union ... by sending 
Representatives to the Forty-sixth Congress pledged to resist 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 155 

at all hazards the revolutionary schemes of the mischief-makers " 
which could not "be carried out without a bloody civil war." ^ 
This letter made a profound impression on the pubUc mind and 
was furiously resented by the Democratic press. ^ 

1 It seems not unlikely that Mr. Key's letter was submitted to the President 
before it was given to the public. At any rate, that it correctly reflected Mr. 
Hayes's own views is proved by the diary, May 31, which says: "The event now 
on the scene is the investigation as to the election, looking to ousting the Re- 
publicans from power by revolutionary proceedings. My views are well shown 
by Judge Key's letter, Alexander Stephens's letter, and an interview somewhat 
inaccurately reported by G. A. Townsend. I never authorize interviews. This 
one I did not suspect at the time. Talking with Judge Wills on the subject, while 
having a reception, Mr. Townsend stepped up, and, continuing the conversa- 
tion, got up the so-called interview out of the items obtained from me." — In 
the interview referred to (Philadelphia Times, May 31) Mr. Hayes is credited 
with condemning the Democratic caucus control which had forced the Potter 
movement and with approving the views expressed by Mr. Key and Mr. 
Stephens, and he is quoted as saying: "Such schemes cannot be carried out 
without war. I swore to preserve the Constitution of the United States, and will 
deliver the executive office in its integrity to my successor. They can impeach 
me in the House of Representatives and try me in the Senate. There is no other 
way in which I will recognize any attempt of Congress to remove me. But I do 
not believe that the United States Senate has fallen to that point where high- 
class Democrats like Bayard and Thurman, Gordon and Hill, will agree to make 
the Senate a vehicle for carrying out the revolutionary edict of a party caucus 
by a conviction or impeachment. ... I should defend my office and the inde- 
pendence of the Executive against any intruder." The interview elicited much 
adverse comment, especially of its tone. Whereupon Mr. Townsend, in a sec- 
ond account (Cincinnati Enquirer, Jime 2), explained that, in his haste to report 
the interview, "perhaps the conversation appears in an intensity of expression 
which might lead the reader to suppose the President was excited and anxious 
to talk. He never was more complacent and quiet." 

2 On the other hand, it was about this time that the New York Evening Post 
printed the following verses : — 

TO THE PRESroENT 

Made . . . sic ihir ad astra I — Virq. 

Stand firm, brave heart! Despite of faction's cries. 

In thy great task be constant to the end; 
The nation's voice is with thee, and replies 

In cheers to thine, hailing the People's friend. 
The People — all — not party nor a part; 

Nor North nor South, nor East nor West, but all 
Bound by thy rule are bound within thy heart. 

Content by thy strong words to stand or fall. 
The reign of wrong and petty rogues shall cease. 

Merit and honesty sole passports be 
Henceforth to trust; and hearty Union, peace 

Succeed to strife and local tyranny. 
Then shall the country, long-depressed, up-stand; 

With wings renewed Prosperity shaJl rise. 
And fling her garlands o'er the bounteous land — 

Brighter than war's, dearer than victory's. 



156 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Finally, the pressure of public opinion became so heavy that 
the Democrats in Congress could no longer bear its weight, and 
on June 14, under suspension of the rules, they were forced to 
accept this declaration: — 

Whereas, At the joint meeting of the two houses of the Forty-fourth 
Congress convened pursuant to law and the Constitution, for the purpose 
of ascertaining and counting the votes for President and Vice-President 
for the term commencing March 4, 1877, upon counting the votes 
Rutherford B. Hayes was declared to be elected President and William 
A. Wheeler was declared elected Vice-President for such term: therefore, 

Resolved, That no subsequent Congress and neither house has juris- 
diction to revise the action at such joint meeting, and any attempt by 
either house to annul or disregard such action or the title to office arising 
therefrom would be revolutionary and is disapproved by this House. ^ 

It is worthy of note that Messrs. Blackburn, Hewitt, and 
Springer voted in the negative and that Mr. Potter was recorded 
as not voting. Plainly, these leaders of the Democratic party 
had committed themselves to quite a different theory of the 
powers of any "subsequent Congress." But by the passage of 
this resolution Congress had nipped in the bud any possible 

Let faction howl, cold-hearted friends hang back, 

And baffled enemies revile thy name: 
Stand firm: hold stanchly on thy self -set track, 

And win in after age immortal fame; 
The Patriot in bad times who stainless stood. 
And knew no statecraft but his country's good. 

George Vandenhopp. 

1 The motion was made by Mr. Burchard (Rep.), of Illinois, and it took the 
Democrats completely by surprise. Absentees were quickly summoned from 
committee rooms and excited consultation took place on the floor. The leaders 
were unable to hold their followers. Only twenty-one voted against suspension 
of the rules, though many refused to vote. Immediately thereafter Mr. Hart- 
ridge (Dem.), from the Committee on the Judiciary, reported adversely the bill 
presented by Mr. Kimmel, of Maryland, to give the Supreme Court power to 
try the Presidential election controversy, as the Maryland resolution requested. 
The committee held "that Congress had no power under the Constitution to 
confer such jurisdiction." It proposed this resolution: — 

"Resolved, That the two houses of the Forty-fourth Congress, having counted 
the votes cast for President and Vice-President of the United States, and having 
declared Rutherford B. Hayes to be elected President, and William A. Wheeler 
to be elected Vice-President, there is no power in any subsequent Congress to 
reverse that declaration, nor can any such power be exercised by the courts of the 
United States, or any other tribunal that Congress can create under the Con- 
stitution." 

This resolution was now overwhelmingly adopted, Mr. Hewitt voting in the 
aflSrmative, but Messrs. Blackburn and Springer still in the negative. 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 157 

revolutionary project that the intimate partisans of Mr. Tilden 
may have contemplated. The investigation henceforth could be 
useful to the Democrats, if at all, only in feeding the flame of 
their " great fraud issue" to illumine future political contests. 

Meanwhile the select committee of eleven, with Mr. Potter as 
chairman, had been named and June 1 began its labors. ^ Of the 
four minority members only Mr. J. D. Cox, of Ohio, was a gen- 
uine friend of the Administration. IVIr. Hiscock, of New York, 
was a friend of Mr. Conkling; Mr. Reed, of Maine, a friend of Mr. 
Blaine, and Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, was a 
friend of no one but himself; — he was in open opposition to the 
President and on the point of breaking entirely with his party. ^ 
It is unnecessary here to follow the investigation in detail. The 
first witness, James E. Anderson, of whom so much was expected 
to discredit Secretary Sherman, proved himself to be such a varie- 
gated and versatile liar — a confessed perjurer and blackmailer 
— that no unsupported testimony that he gave was entitled to 
credence. He admitted that he had had only one short conver- 
sation with iSIr. Sherman at New Orleans and that was in a public 
restaurant; but he produced what purported to be a copy of a 
letter which he said had been addressed to himself and D. A. 
Weber by Mr. Sherman. The original, he said, had been lost 
when Weber was killed. The letter assured the recipients that, if 
they stood firm in the position they had taken, they would "be 
provided for as soon after the 4th of March as may be practic- 
able." Mr. Sherman denied xmder oath that he had wTitten or 
signed any such letter, though there were expressions in it that 
he would not have hesitated to use. The letter was, in the end, 
proved to be a forgery, concocted by an adventuress named 
Jenks whose irresponsible chatter when before the committee, 
while affording vast amusement, was a veritable travesty of 

1 The members were Clarkson N. Potter (New York), William R. Morrison 
(niinois), Eppa Hunton (Virginia), William S. Stenger (Pennsylvania), John 
A. McMahon (Ohio), J. C. S. Blackburn (Kentucky), William M. Springer 
(nimois), Democrats; and B. F. Butler (Massachusetts), Jacob D. Cox (Ohio), 
Thomas B. Reed (Maine), and Frank Hiscock (New York), Republicans. — 
Mr. Randall was accused of "packing" the committee so as to make it as un- 
favorable to the Administration as possible. 

* A few weeks later he captured the Democratic nomination for Governor in 
Massachusetts and carried his demagogic, mischief-making power back to his 
ancient party allegiance. 



158 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

testimony.^ No evidence in corroboration of Ajiderson's charges 
against Mr. Sherman was produced and so the "case" against 
him completely broke down. Anderson, however, produced cor- 
respondence between himself and Stanley Matthews relating to 
his efforts to obtain office, which showed, to say the least, that 
Mr. Matthews had been easily imposed upon and that he had 
been indiscreet in pressing Anderson's "claims." On the other 
hand, it developed that Mr. Hayes, who had at first received the 
impression that Anderson was a deserving and competent man, 
who might well receive a small consulship, had on learning his 
true character refused to give him place or even to see him. Mr. 
Hayes in his diary (June 2, 1878) gives the followiag racy account 
of his relations with Anderson : — 

The election investigation began yesterday with calling as a witness 
the scamp Anderson. He testified that a letter was given to himself and 
Weber, election oflacers in the Felicianas, by Sherman to induce them to 
aid in fraud in regard to the election. He produced a copy, as he said, of 
the letter. It is not a letter which sustains the charge even if genuine. 
He also testified that he called on me soon after I was inaugurated and 
got from me an endorsement to Secretary Evarts to give him a consul- 
ship in a warm climate. 

The facts are, so far as I am concerned : He came to me, one of the 
throng of office-seekers early in my term. He had a strong recommenda- 
tion from a trustworthy citizen of Steubenville, Ohio, name not now 
recollected, and testimonials from Senators Matthews and Kellogg and 
Representatives Leonard, Darral, Nash. Nothing was said which led 
me to suspect that he had been guilty of any crookedness, or that any 
promises had been made to him in my name or otherwise. The facts 
stated were that he had been an active Republican at the risk of his life 
in Louisiana, and that on account of liis activity as a Republican he had 
been driven from his home and business and could not safely return. 
He appeared intelligent and capable. He represented that his wife's 
health required him to go to a mild climate. Our interview lasted only a 
few minutes. I, therefore, gave him the recommendation referred to. 
Afterwards, and after a small consulship had been found for him, I 
learned from an anonymous letter signed "Bulldozer," and from a note 
from J. A. Straight, facts that made me suspect him. I also learned from 
Senator Matthews facts that induced the belief that he was trying to 
levy blackmail. I then directed that nothing should be done for him 
until liis character was investigated. The result was that no office 
was given to him. My note as to his character is on file in the State 

* "Beyond question the most remarkable witness ever before a congressional 
committee." (New York Tribune, Washington dispatch, June 24, 1878.) 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 159 

Department with other papers. The files show clearly the action by 
me and the reasons for it. 

As to the alleged frauds and perjury of Anderson with reference to the 
election in Feliciana, I never heard of it until long after his papers were 
sent to the Secretary of State. 

When Anderson was recommended by me for a place in a warm cli- 
mate there was nothing before me against him, and much in his favor, 
but after I heard the facts against him I was satisfied we had no place as 
warm as he deserved, and so he got nothing ! Hence his trouble with us 
now! 

Anderson says he told me that the Feliciana business was "a cheat." 
If so it was on one of the occasions when he was under the influence of 
liquor and excited. I gave liim no serious attention and got rid of him as 
soon as possible. I certainly never promised him office, and never in- 
tended to give him office after I had been informed of his true character 
and cqpduct. He could have been appointed if it had been deemed 
proper, and he was not appointed on account of the information received 
about him.^ 

Equally futile was the effort to prove that Mr. Noyes had 
sought to influence the action of the Florida Returning Board by 
promises of office. A subcommittee visited Florida to take Mc- 
Lin's testimony. McLin repeated in greater detail the impres- 
sions set forth in his affidavit. The Republican visiting states- 
men, he declared, particularly Messrs. Noyes, Chandler, and 
Lew Wallace, had assured him that in case of Republican success 
he would be "well taken care of"; but he acknowledged that Mr. 
Noyes had made no such promise to him until after the contest 
was decided. He testified also that Manton Marble, Mr. Tilden's 
friend, one of the Democratic visitors, had told him, in case the 
Board declared the Tilden electors chosen, there would be no 
danger of his dying poor. Mr. Noyes himself, who came from 
Paris to give his testimony, denied emphatically that he had 
ever made to members of the Returning Board any promise or 

* Secretaries Sherman, Schurz, Thompson, and Key, and Messrs. Garfield, 
McKinley, and Keifer, of the House, were at the White House for dinner June 2. 
Mr. Hayes writes: "The testimony of Anderson was talked over. The general 
opinion was that his story was too thin to do serious harm. Anderson testifies 
that, June 13, 1877, he called at the White House to see me with General Smith 
(T. C. H.); that Smith saw me, but he did not; that Smith came out saying 
that 'the President, for political considerations, wanted something satisfactory 
done for him, Anderson.' My recollection is that I told Smith I believed Ander- 
son was a great scoundrel and that I would not see him, and wanted nothing 
further to do with him. I certainly did not say I wanted him to have office." 
(Diary, June 3, 1878.) 



160 RUTHERFORD BIRCILVRD HAYES 

held out any inducement to have them declare the State for 
the Hayes electors before the decision was made; all he sought 
was a fair and honest count. After the decision was made he 
told McLin that he should be glad to say to Governor Hayes 
that he (McLin) had done his duty honestly and faithfully and 
to recommend him for some position. Mr. Chandler denied 
making any such promise. General Wallace testified: — 

I went to Mr. McLin's house by invitation an evening or two before 
the Board was to pronounce their judgment, and after some general 
conversation, he made the remark that Mr. Manton Marble, repre- 
senting the Democrats, had been but a very short time before at his 
house to see him, and had told him there was no necessity of his 
(McLin's) living or dying a poor man; that if Tilden was counted in 
he could command anything he wanted. I said to McLin, " Mr. 
Marble is very bold in his proposition, and he certainly forgets that 
if Hayes is elected he will have the same opportunity of taking care 
of his friends, which," I added, " I have no doubt he wUl do." I did 
not understand at the time that that was a corrupt proposition from 
me, or anything that looked that way to Mr. McLin. I had too much 
respect for Mr. McLin to make any such proposition. 

Many witnesses appeared before the committee and a vast 
amount of evidence, such as it was, was taken. While it revealed 
anew in a striking way the irregularities and confusion that had 
accompanied the elections in Louisiana and Florida, it did not 
add materially to the knowledge in that regard already brought 
out by the congressional investigations of the previous year. It 
certainly failed utterly to prove that the action of the Returning 
Board in either Louisiana or Florida had been the result of Re- 
publican "conspiracy," or had been brought about by fraud or 
corruption. And, of course, the Democratic examiners refused 
to go mto the question of violence and coercion and intimidation, 
which had justified the action taken by the Returning Boards, in 
the exercise of their discretionary powers, to determine the true 
voice of their States. 

Naturally the testimony and "confessions " were paraded by 
the Democratic politicians and papers as tending to substantiate 
their contention of fraud. In their estimation here was effective 
material for use in the congressional elections of the year. Man- 
ton Marble, whose fervor and rhetoric were ever ready for copi- 
ous exudation in the cause of his great and good friend, published 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 161 

a prolix letter in the New York Sun of August 3, 1878, which 
glowed with righteous indignation at the "perjuries, forgeries, 
and paper fabrications" which he charged the Republicans with 
having perpetrated and procured in canvassing the votes of the 
three disputed States. While the desperate Republicans were 
engaged in their dark designs, he msisted that the virtuous Demo- 
crats were "always standing fast in the final citadel of power, the 
keen, bright sunlight of publicity"; and that their exalted leader 
placed "his absolute trust in moral forces; his entire faith in the 
people, their volitions, and their power." 

If Mr. Marble could write in that fashion, possessing the 
secret knowledge that he did, what would have been the ardor 
of his eloquence could he have banished from his consciousness 
all memory of his own conduct during the progress of the count 
in Florida.'* His secret was safe with the few partners in his en- 
deavors ; and all record of it, even could its cryptic form be un- 
riddled, he doubtless supposed had perished long ago. So, how 
could the public ever suspect that his tone of virtuous exaltation, 
his scorn of all unrighteous procedure, was as empty and mean- 
ingless as a cornered burglar's noisy protestations of innocent 
purpose? He was not destined long to retain his sense of security ; 
nor the Democrats long to find satisfaction in the performances 
of the Potter Committee. 

In January, 1877, the Senate Committee on Privileges and 
Elections had obtained, on subpoena, from the Western Union 
Telegraph Company, all the cipher dispatches — some thirty 
thousand — which had passed between politicians during the 
Presidential campaign and the period of the canvass, except 
those relating to Louisiana, which latter had already been de- 
manded by the House Committee. In March the dispatches had 
been returned to the company, which took them back to New 
York and burned them. But while the dispatches were in the 
possession of the Senate Committee several hundred, relating to 
Florida, South Carolina, and Oregon, were withdrawn from the 
mass and retained, quite unknown to the company. Soon after 
the Potter Committee began its inquiry, these dispatches came 
into the possession of the New York Tribune. Those revealing 
the Democratic plot to buy an electoral vote in Oregon under 
direction of Colonel William T. Pelton, Mr. Tilden's nephew and 



162 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HA\"ES 

house companion, had been deciphered while the electoral count 
was going on. The Florida and South Carolina dispatches, how- 
ever, had so far baffled all attempts to discover their hidden 
meaning. The Tribune published samples of them from time to 
time, with humorous comment, in the hope that some reader 
might detect the key to the cryptogram. Finally John R. G. 
Hassard, chief of the Tribune staff, and Colonel William G. 
Grosvenor, a member of the staff, set to work independently in a 
serious and determined effort to solve the mystery. After pro- 
longed labor, the account of which reads more like ingenious fic- 
tion than a sober recital of fact, they were entirely successful in 
discovering the various and intricate keys employed in the crj^)- 
tic correspondence between Mr. Tilden's house and Democratic 
agents in Florida and South Carolina. With admirable journal- 
istic exploitation the Tribune, early in October, began to print 
the cipher dispatches together with their translations, creating 
thereby one of the greatest political sensations in the history 
of the country'. The publication covered the Democrats with 
confusion and angry chagrin, and it completely eclipsed popular 
interest in the Potter Committee's accomplishment. The de- 
ciphered dispatches disclosed that the closest friends of iNlr. Til- 
den, instead of courting the "keen, bright sunlight of publicity," 
had been shrouding their movements in what they had fondly 
thought was impenetrable darkness; instead of placing their 
"absolute trust in moral forces," had been seeking to purchase 
the Presidency by the vulgar methods of corrupt lobbyists. 

In Florida the secret agents of "trust in moral forces" were 
Manton Marble, who rejoiced in the cipher name "Moses," C. 
W. WooUey, known as " Fox," and John F. Coyle, "Max." They 
reported to Colonel Pelton, at Mr. Tilden's house. Frequent 
dispatches relating to the bribery of a member of the Canvassing 
Board passed between Tallahassee and New York. Finally, 
December 2, "Moses" telegraphed that he could obtain the "re- 
quired Tilden decision of Board and certificate of Governor for 
$200,000." The answer was that the price was too high, for " Fox " 
had telegraphed that $50,000 would be enough to turn the trick. 
"Moses" reported to similar effect December 4, and New York 
replied at once authorizing acceptance of the proposition; but 
four words were omitted in transmission of the cipher dispatch, 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 163 

making it unintelligible to Marble, who called for a repetition. 
This was not received until the next day, the day before the 
electors were to vote; and Marble, apparently in disgust, replied, 
"Proposition failed. . . . Tell Tilden to saddle Blackstone." ^ 
Woolley telegraphed, "Power secured too late." Whether Mar- 
ble and Woolley could actually have completed the corrupt 
arrangement, had the power been secured earlier, or whether 
they were being played upon by shrewder men, cannot be known. 
There is no trustworthy evidence that in either Florida or South 
Carolina any members of the returning Board could really have 
been bought. But what is known is that Mr. Tilden's nephew 
authorized the immoral transaction. 

"In South Carolina," as the Tribune summarized the evidence 
of the dispatches, "the purchasing agent was Smith M. Weed. 
He telegraphed to Colonel Pelton, on the very day of his arrival 
at Columbia, a proposal to buy the Canvassing Board for 
$30,000, to which Pelton appears to have readily assented. This 
figure was too low, and the negotiation, after lasting six days, was 
closed at the price of $80,000. It was arranged that Weed should 
meet a messenger at Baltimore, who was to carry the money in 
three packages; and he particularly requested that Colonel Pel- 
ton should act as this messenger himself. Weed accordingly ar- 
rived in Baltimore from Columbia on the 20th of November, and 
Pelton arrived there at the same time from New York; but again 
a little delay upset the scheme. Subsequently a plot was formed 
to buy four members of the South Carolina Legislature, for 
$20,000, and having thus obtained control of the State Govern- 
ment, to put the Hayes electors in jail, and lock them up in sepa- 
rate cells until the day for casting the electoral votes had passed. 
The result of this villainy would have been to deprive South Car- 
olina of any vote, and to throw the choice of a President into the 
House of Representatives, which would have elected Tilden. 
The plan failed because the four members could not be bought." 

The effect on the public mind of these disclosures can hardly 
be overstated. The doubts of the authenticity of the dispatches 
and of the correctness of their translation expressed by the 
Democratic press were too feeble to make any impression, 
and all their sarcasm was unavailing to dissipate the popular 
^ The name of Mr. Tilden's favorite horse. 



1G4 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

condemnation. Neither did it avail to insist that the Republicans 
were just as bad. Evidence to support that contention, with all 
the prying and insinuations of the Potter examiners, was lacking. 
Mr. Tilden promptly published a card,^ asserting that he had "no 
knowledge of the existence of these telegrams nor any information 
about them" except what he had learned from the Tribune pub- 
lication. He had never heard of the corrupt Florida offer "until 
long after the 6th of December," and then "casually" when the 
information given him was "accompanied by the statement that 
the offer had been rejected." In regard to the South Carolina 
dispatches his precise language was : — 

I can speak of them no less definitely and positively. No one of such 
telegrams, either in cipher or translated, was ever shown to, or its con- 
tents made known to me. No offer or negotiation in behalf of the state 
canvassers of South Carolina, or of any of them, or any dealing with 
any of them in respect to the certificates to the electors, was ever au- 
thorized or sanctioned in any manner by me, directly or through any 
other person. 

All which, if true, was, as the event proved, at least disingenuous 
and misleading. While apparently a denial of knowledge at the 
time of the whole transaction, it was careful not to disavow pos- 
session of information concerning such an "offer or negotiation." 
Furthermore, Mr. Tilden asseverated, no attempt to influence 
the action of any member of any Returning Board or of any elec- 
tor "by such motives" "was ever entertained, considered, or 
tolerated by him or by anybody within his influence by his con- 
sent, or with his knowledge or acquiescence." He had had "one 
fixed purpose from which he had not deviated in word or act — 
to take no part in the shameful competition to obtain the Presi- 
dency by resort to any form of venal inducements." 

And yet the fact remained, undisputed and indisputable, that 
confidential friends of Mr. Tilden, armed with elaborate ciphers, 
were for weeks bombarding Mr. Tilden's house with dispatches, 
submitting corrupt proposals, and that these dispatches were 
received and answered and the corrupt proposals accepted and 
sanctioned by Colonel William T. Pelton, Mr. Tilden's nephew, 

* Mr. Marble also had the audacity to issue a letter in which he furiously 
denied having sent some of the dispatches credited to him. But the most damag- 
ing he could not deny, for they were in his own handwriting. 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 165 

who might reasonably be supposed to be "within his influence" 
and to be shaping his conduct in matters of supreme importance 
to his uncle in deference to his known wishes. It is not strange, 
therefore, that the public found it difficult to accept Mr. Tilden's 
assertions of complete innocence as altogether conclusive. His 
reputation for crafty shrewdness, and the fact that he was known 
to have been the guiding and controlling spirit of his campaign 
for the Presidency, inclined average human intelligence to as- 
sume that his ignorance of what his nephew and his most inti- 
mate friends were plotting in his behalf could not have been 
other than wilful.^ 

As soon as Congress reassembled in December the Republicans 
began to demand that the Potter Committee should extend its 
inquiry to the cipher dispatches. The Democrats fought shy of 
the subject until late in January, when, with evident reluctance, 
they instructed the committee to make an investigation. The 
committee first sought assiduously to discover inculpatory 
Republican dispatches, but none were brought to light. A sub- 
committee, consisting of Messrs. Hunton, Springer, and Stenger, 
Democrats, and Messrs. Hiscock and Reed, Republicans, then 
visited New York, where the testimony of the principal men 
involved was taken. Colonel Pelton admitted his part in the 
corrupt negotiations, as did also Smith M. Weed, the latter jus- 
tifying his conduct on the theory that it was right to use such 
means to redeem stolen goods. The righteous Marble, who had 
prated so fervently of reliance on "moral forces," protested that 
he had sent the corrupt proposals as "danger signals" — a pre- 
tension that was greeted by the committee and spectators mth 
contemptuous laughter. All of these witnesses seemed to be suf- 
f ermg from a partial paralysis of memory which made it difficult 
for them to recall details of their actixdty. They could not even 
say that the translations of the dispatches were accurate. They 
had forgotten or lost the keys ! Colonel Pelton and Mr. Weed 

^ "I asked Mr. Fish (the Governor) what was the opinion of the well informed 
in New York as to Mr. Tilden's knowledge of the cipher dispatches. He replied, 
that no one acquainted with Mr. Tilden's methods and character had any doubt 
of his knowledge and connection with them; that he was intimately acquainted 
with Tilden more than forty years ago; that he was bright, fond of philosophiz- 
ing about politics, and always interesting; that their offices were near together." 
(Diary. New York, October 5, 1885.) 



166 RUTHERFORD BIRCH.iRD HAYES 

acknowledged that they had met in Baltimore to arrange for the 
completion of the latter's South Carolina bargain. But both de- 
nied that Mr. Tilden knew anything about the transaction until 
he was informed of it by Edward Cooper, treasurer of the Dem- 
ocratic National Committee, to whom Pelton applied for the 
necessary corruption money. Mr. Cooper testified to similar 
effect. Finally, Mr. Tilden himself appeared before the commit- 
tee, at his own request, and made the most sweeping denial that 
he had had anything whatever to do with the rascally business 
going on under his own roof; that he had never authorized or 
countenanced it; and that he had no knowledge or suspicion that 
any corrupt schemes were attempted until after the event; except 
that he had been informed of the South Carolina bargain as it 
was about to be consummated and had peremptorily stopped the 
transaction, and ordered Pelton to return immediately to New 
York.i 

And yet, after this bargain fell through because of Mr. Tilden's 
condemnation (his word bemg accepted), his nephew entered 
into another corrupt plot to control the vote in South Carolina 
and continued his flagitious negotiations for the purchase of the 
Returning Board in Florida and for buying one elector in Ore- 
gon. All which shows, at least, that Mr. Tilden was not able to 
influence his own nephew to place his reliance only on moral 
forces or to deter him from further malign activity. It is to be 
noted also that Mr. Tilden's abhorrence of the conduct of his 
intimate friends was not sufficient to cause him to sever relations 
with them. They remained on the same confidential footing with 
him as before. 

While it is to be said that there was no absolute proof of Mr. 
Tilden's participation in or knowledge of the corrupt dealings of 
his nephew and his close friends, all the attendant circumstances, 
taken in connection with his known sagacity, make the theory 
of his unqualified innocence extremely difficult to entertain. It 
can only be accepted at the expense of his vaunted astuteness.^ 

* On his cross-examination by Mr. Reed, Mr. Tilden sought to defend with 
much sophistry his suppressio veri in his letter of the previous October. It cannot 
be said that his defense was impressive. 

* The Democratic press accepted Mr. Tilden's testimony as completely 
exonerating^ him. The Republican refused to be convinced. For example, the 
New York Times, February, 7, 1879, said editorially: "If we are to accept the 



fl 



I 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 167 

The minority report of the investigating committee was quite 
within reason in declaring: "The denials of Messrs. Pelton and 
Tilden of the complicity of the latter cannot remove the taint of 
suspicion that rests upon him." 

The general result of the Potter investigation, therefore, was 
altogether different from what its authors had hoped and ex- 
pected.^ They had gone out after wool and had returned shorn, 

theory which Mr. Tilden's agents are trying to establish on the witness-stand, 
as they have already tried to establish it in the press and on the floor of Congress, 
we must believe that he was an unsuspecting and careless old man, who 'put 
himself in the hands of his friends,' who left everything to them, who knew 
nothing of what was going on in his behalf, and who, when he discovered their 
wickedness, reproved them with mild displeasure, and was too good-natured and 
too innocent to see that anything more was required of him. Nothing could 
be more inconsistent with Mr. Tilden's known character and with all the facts 
of his political career. He is, and has always been, an active, keen, vigilant man- 
ager of his own affairs, in general and in detail. He has small confidence in any 
one, knows to a shade the responsibility of a public man, fully appreciates the 
value of public esteem, and has always closely regulated every step made by or 
for him in his political projects. He is the last man for whom any relative or 
friend would bind himself to pay $50,000, $80,000, $200,000, trusting to the 
result to justify the bargain and secure reimbursement. In order to have been 
the innocent, dull, 'goody' sort of person he is represented as being throughout 
this game for the purchase of the Presidential office, Mr. Tilden must have 
changed every fibre of his character, every impulse, habit, and purpose of his 
mind. That he had not done so as late as the ICth of October last is abundantly 
proved by his adroit card of that date, in which it was evident that he had lost 
none of his ancient cunning, and had gained not a whit of the ingenuousness 
which the theory of his friends now attributes to him." 

And George William Curtis, in Harper s Weehly, March 1, 1879, said: "Here 
is Mr. Tilden confessing that he did not know the monstrous rascalities that his 
immediate friends and political associates were carrying on in his own house. 
... It is evident from all the testimony that when Mr. Tilden learned of Pelton's 
visit to Baltimore to conclude the bargain, he called him back and reproved him. 
But there is no evidence or pretense that he took care to deprive such a dangerous 
fellow of further opportunities of mischief. In fact, with the exception of a 
scolding, Pelton occupied the same position as before, and actually continued 
the attempt to buy a vote. According to Mr. Tilden's account, his own action 
was confined to scolding his nephew and leaving him to his pranks. His conduct 
was that of a man who knew that such things if brought to his knowledge ' would 
not do.' But there is no sign of that mighty indignation with which his card last 
October declared that he should 'crush out' any intimation of contemplated 
fraud. . . . The general feeling in regard to Mr. Tilden's connection with the 
cipher bribery plot is undoubtedly that Pelton did not tell him what was going 
on. It is, of course, impossible to know what Mr. Tilden, as a shrewd and ex- 
perienced politician, suspected, and what he chose not to know. But that his 
political conscience is very sensitive is probably not generally supposed." 

' In a letter to Minister Noyes, April 1, 1879, a month after the committee 
reported. Secretary Sherman wrote: "The report of the Potter Committee, 



168 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

with sides scarified and bleeding. The "keen, bright sunhght of 
publicity" had been turned upon the "great fraud issue," and, 
instead of establishing it as a pillar of fire to lead the Democrats 
to assured victory in 1880, had utterly annihilated it. Hence- 
forth it played no part in the practical political thought of the 
period. With its disappearance, under the conditions that caused 
its demolition, vanished likewise Mr. Tilden's hopes of a renomi- 
nation. The Democrats could never venture into a national 
campaign with the damning record of the cipher dispatches hang- 
ing over them like a pall. How completely men in 1880 had ceased 
to think of the passions and recriminations of the electoral dis- 
pute was strikingly manifested by the nomination and election 
by the Republicans of James A. Garfield, who had been one of the 
visiting statesmen in New Orleans and who had served on the 
Electoral Commission.^ 

Mr. Stephens's acute prediction was doubly fulfilled. He had 

which you correctly pronounce to be infamous, was received in silence and was 
scarcely printed or noticed in the newspapers of the United States two days 
after its presentation to the House. It was then severely handled by the Re- 
publican press and treated with silence by the Democratic press and now it is 
not mentioned. . . . But for the expense and trouble of the investigation, I am 
rather gratified that it occurred, for the feeling of the Democratic party, over 
■what' they supposed was a fraudulent return, would have deepened into con- 
viction, while the investigation tended on the whole to repel this suspicion." 
{Recollections, chapter xxxiii.) 

1 Writing to W. E. Chandler, September 29, 1885, to acknowledge receipt 
of an article by him on the "Florida Count in 1876-77," Mr. Hayes said: — 

" Your statement that the failure to renominate the man claimed to be beaten 
by fraud gives away his case, cannot be gainsaid. It is a conclusive reply to the 
* fraud cry.' 

"I merely suggest that the nomination and election of Garfield emphasizes 
this in the most cogent way. General Garfield was a conspicuous figure in the 
whole business complained of. As a visiting statesman to Louisiana he reported 
to me, to the country, and officially to the President that the final result in 
Louisiana was not merely fair and just, but according to the law and equity of 
the case. He was placed on the Electoral Commission and on all questions voted 
with the majority. He was in the fullest sense responsible for the result. His 
nomination and election clinched the business. 

"Again, General Hancock, who was nominated by the Democrats in 1880, 
was distinctly identified with the liberal wing of his party, who scouted the 
whole charge of fraud, and with Alexander H. Stephens he agreed. Before the 
controversy was ended in favor of the Republicans he published a letter in which 
he said he 'knew Governor Hayes well as a soldier in the war, that he would 
make a good President'; — and when the result was declared he did not sulk, 
but was among the first after inauguration who promptly paid his respects to 
the new President." 



THE CIPHER DISPATCHES 169 

foreseen that the Potter investigation, with its scarcely con- 
cealed ulterior purpose, would "prove in the end either a con- 
temptible farce or a horrible tragedy." It proved to be both, — 
"a contemptible farce," so far as the intent had been to make it 
the basis for a revolutionary attack on the White House or to 
render the "great fraud issue" respectable and paramount; "a 
horrible tragedy," so far as it affected the hopes and ambitions 
of Mr. Tilden. 



^ 



CHAPTER XXXII 

THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 

THE closing days of the Forty-fifth Congress were enlivened 
and embittered by irreconcilable differences between the 
two parties, which resulted in the failure of passage of two of the 
great appropriation bills — the army bill, and the legislative, 
executive, and judicial bill. The Democratic majority of the 
House of Representatives insisted on attaching to the former bill 
a repeal of the law authorizing the use of the army "to keep the 
peace at the polls"; and to the latter bill a repeal of the jurors' 
test-oath law and a repeal of the federal election law. The Re- 
publican Senate refused to approve these "riders." Conference 
committees of the two houses were unable to effect any reconcili- 
ation, compromise, or recession. Practically every one was agreed 
that the jurors' test-oath law, which could be mvoked in the 
South to keep from a federal jury any one who had participated 
in the least way in the War of the Rebellion, ought to be repealed; 
and doubtless a separate bill to that end could easily have been 
passed. But the Democrats were determined that all their de- 
mands should be accepted or none, and that, if the Senate re- 
fused to yield, the appropriation should fail of passage and the 
new Congress would have to be called in special session. Mrtu- 
ally, and almost in so many words, the Democratic majority of 
the House said to the Republican majority of the Senate : " You 
must yield your convictions and permit the abrogation of certain 
laws which you approve and we disapprove, or we will consent 
to no appropriations for carrying on the Government." The 
Republican Senators could not with self-respect suffer such 
attempted coercion. 

In vain it was pointed out, too, that there was no irmnediate 
urgency for the legislation which the Democrats so Insistently 
demanded. Even if at times in the past, it should be admitted, 
the authority to use the army to keep the peace at the polls 
had been abused, every one knew that nothing of the sort had 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 171 

happened or would be tolerated under the present Administration. 
In the recent congressional elections troops had nowhere been 
heard of or thought of. And suppose the federal election law, 
providing for the appointment of federal supervisors and deputy 
marshals to protect the purity of congressional elections, ought 
to be repealed, as the Democrats contended, there was nothing in 
the present posture of affairs to justify the Democrats in demand- 
ing its immediate repeal under pain of putting the country to 
the expense and aim.oyance of an extra session of Congress or, 
least of all, of stopping the wheels of administration. The regular 
session of the new Congress would occur in ample time to repeal 
or to modify the law before there would again be occasion for 
invoking its authority. 

In spite of all common-sense considerations the Democratic 
leaders stubbornly adhered to their programme. It was clear 
that they were manoeuvring for position with reference to the 
Presidential canvass of the following year. They were hopelessly 
torn asunder on the financial issue, the men of the East standing 
steadfast for sound finance and the gold dollar, the men of the 
West and the South prevailingly affected by the fallacies of 
greenback and silver propagandists. They had pitifully failed to 
establish the "great fraud issue" as a party rallying cry: But 
freedom of elections — that was a plea, they thought, in which 
all Democrats, however much they might differ on subjects of 
larger practical importance, could heartily join. They even went 
so far at first as to dispute the constitutionality of any federal 
election law in the face of the explicit sanction of the Constitu- 
tion ' itself. Men might doubt the wisdom of the existing law, 
might argue that it had been passed for partisan reasons, and 
had been executed with partisan unfairness ; but that Congress 
had the right, if it chose to exercise it, to legislate on the subject 
could not seriously be questioned. And the country knew that it 
was the scandalous frauds in elections in New York and other 
great cities of the North, quite as much as the \'iolent methods 
employed in the South to suppress or to control the negro vote, 
that had led Congress to pass the law which the Democrats found 
so obnoxious. Even if the law was admitted to be constitutional, 
the Democrats insisted that it was not needed; for eighty years 
1 Article I, Section 4. 



172 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the country had got on satisfactorily \\athout federal interference 
with elections. They pointed to acknowledged abuses in the 
administration of the law, arguing that in practice the power it 
gave to appoint any number of deputy marshals, all of whom were 
of the dominant party, had made it principally an engine of 
partisan effort; had made it possible for the Republicans to pay 
party workers out of the national treasury. 

The Republicans retorted that the law was made necessary by 
Democratic frauds on the franchise in the North and by Demo- 
cratic violence to prevent the votes of Republicans in the South, 
and that the Democratic attack on the law now was based not so 
much on principle as on the desire to make fraudulent voting 
easy in the Northern cities and bulldozing safe in the South. ^ 
Thus, crimination and recrimination sharpened the debates in 
Congress and produced ever-growing rancor and virulence in 
newspaper discussion. The bolder Democratic leaders announced 
that they proposed to go forward till every law placed on the 
statute-book by the Repubhcans that grew out of war conditions 
had been swept away. They would welcome an extra session if it 
was made necessary by the obstinate refusal of the Republican 
Senate to yield to their just demands. It was perfectly proper, 
they insisted, that the House of Representatives, which held the 
purse-strings, should deny supplies until there was a "redress 
of grievances," appealing to the false analogy of the English 
monarchical system.^ The new Congress would be Democratic 

^ Judge William Johnston, of Cincinnati, wrote Mr. Hayes (May 15, 1879): 
"Our journalists do not seem to comprehend all that is involved in the present 
contest, or if they do, they lack the power of grappling with it. The practical 
object of the ' so-called ' Democrats is very plain. They want to kill with im- 
punity so many negroes as may be necessary to frighten the survivors from the 
polls in the South; and without let or hindrance to stuff the ballot-boxes of New 
York after the manner of 1868. This is plain enough, but there is a deeper de- 
sign. They wish to extort from the Chief Executive a concession that the Federal 
Government has no power to defend the federal elections from fraud and vio- 
lence; and as our old friend Deacon Storr said, when a bevy of young ladies called 
on him for a subscription to the erection of a Universalist Church, 'I "d see them 
damned first.' If the Federal Government cannot defend the federal elections 
against fraud and violence, neither can it protect the treasury of the United 
States, the mint, the mail, or any other institution belonging to the United 
States, and we shall be thrown back on the Buchananian doctrine that while 
nobody has a right to destroy the Government, neither the Government nor 
anybody else has a right to defend it." 

* "The grievances which the Commons sought to redress were not those of 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 173 

in both branches. That Congress would insist on the measures 
now proposed, or the Government would be left without means 
to support the army or to maintain the executive and judicial 
functions. This proclamation of policy was a virtual threat of 
revolution. It meant, if successfully carried out and adhered to, 
practical assumption of sole control of the Government by the 
House of Representatives. If the Senate must accept any condi- 
tion attached to an appropriation bill that the House insisted 
on, then the House could dominate Congress; and if the Presi- 
dent must sign any appropriation bill, whatever the legislation 
added thereto, or have the Government come to a standstill, 
then our system of coordinated and independent powers was 
at an end and the executive and judicial departments of the 
Government were made subordinate to the legislative. 

The Forty-fifth Congress terminated March 4, 1879. The 
same day President Hayes issued a proclamation summoning 
the new Congress to meet in special session on March 18. The 
partisan debate in the public prints in the interval continued fast 
and furious. Leaders on both sides strove by every argument 
to win popular approval by seeking to place the blame for the 
extra session on their opponents. The Republicans had the bet- 
ter of the argument, alike on principle and on the very practical 
ground that, in any event, there was no sense in precipitating 
an extra session in the hope of obtaining legislation which could 
just as well wait for the regular session. There was much specu- 
lation as to what the course of the President would be. He was 
not popular with the body of his own party because of his man- 
ner of dealing with the Southern situation and because of his 
civil service reform ideas. Conkling and Blaine and those who 

law, but of the arbitrary action of the King. They asserted the right of the people 
against the divine right of the sovereign. Here, the Executive is as much a 
representative of the people as Congress. He represents them for four years, the 
House represents them for two, and the Senators for six. No antagonism be- 
tween the different branches of our Government is contemplated by the Con- 
stitution; all are expected to act in harmony, because all represent the popular 
will. Besides, the House of Commons sought to bring the King to terms, not 
by refusing appropriations, but by refusing to levy taxes. The money, if not 
collected, would remain in the pockets of the people and benefit them. Here, 
the Democrats purposed to have all the taxes collected as usual, and then 
prohibit the President from spending the money for carrying on the people's 
Government." (Secretary Evarts, in New York Tribune, July 5, 1879.) 



174 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

followed their lead could not forgive him for not accepting their 
guidance and control. It was the fashion to speak of him as lack- 
ing in firmness and backbone, when those were the very' qualities 
he had most conspicuously and consistently displayed, both in 
antagonizing the forces in his own party that had brought the 
Grant Administration into disrepute, and in enforcing the policies 
of finance and of non-interference in the South which he believed 
to be right. Would not the precedent of his action in the South 
and his known views in regard to the proper use of the army 
incline him to accept the entire Democratic programme of repeal 
legislation? This question would hardly have been raised if men 
had recalled what the President had said, in his annual message 
of the previous December, apropos of the congressional elections 
of 1878, when the evil methods adopted in certain parts of the 
South to suppress the colored vote were fresh in the public mind. 
His words then had been : — 

The permanent pacification of the country by the complete protection 
of all citizens in every civil and political right continues to be of para- 
mount interest with the great body of our people. Every step in this 
direction is welcomed with public approval, and every interruption of 
steady and uniform progress to the desired consummation awakens 
general uneasiness and widespread condemnation. The recent congres- 
sional elections have furnished a direct and trustworthy test of the ad- 
vance thus far made in the practical establishment of the right of suf- 
frage, secured by the Constitution to the liberated race in the Southern 
States. All disturbing influences, real or imaginary, had been removed 
from all of these States. 

The three constitutional amendments, which conferred freedom and 
equality of civil and political rights upon the colored people of the 
South, were adopted by the concurrent action of the great body of good 
citizens who maintained the authority of the National Government 
and the integrity and perpetuity of the Union at such a cost of treasure 
and life, as a wise and necessary embodiment in the organic law of the 
just results of the war. The people of the former slaveliolding States 
accepted these results, and gave, in every practicable form, assurances 
that the Tliirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth xVmendments, and laws 
passed in pursuance thereof, should, in good faith, be enforced, rigidly 
and impartially, in letter and spirit, to the end that the humblest citi- 
zen, without distinction of race or color, should, under them, receive full 
and equal protection in person and property and in political rights and 
privileges. By these constitutional amendments, the southern section of 
the Union obtained a large increase of political power in Congress and 
in the Electoral College, and the country justly expected that elections 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 175 

would proceed, as to the enfranchised race, upon the same circumstances 
of legal and constitutional freedom and protection which obtained in all 
the other States of the Union. The friends of law and order looked for- 
ward to the conduct of these elections, as oflFering to the general judg- 
ment of the country an important opportunity to measure the degree in 
which the right of suffrage could be exercised by the colored people and 
would be respected by their fellow citizens; but a more general enjoy- 
ment of freedom of suffrage by the colored people, and a more just and 
generous protection of that freedom by the communities of which they 
form a part, were generally anticipated than the record of the elections 
discloses. In some of those States in which the colored people have been 
unable to make their opinions felt in the elections, the result is mainly 
due to influences not easily measured or remedied by legal protection; 
but in the States of Louisiana and South Carolina at large, and in some 
particular congressional districts outside of those States, the records of 
the elections seem to compel the conclusion that the rights of the colored 
voters have been overridden, and their participation in the elections not 
permitted to be either general or free. 

It will be for the Congress for which these elections were held to make 
such examinations into their conduct as may be appropriate to deter- 
mine the validity of the claims of members to their seats. In the mean- 
while it becomes the duty of the executive and judicial departments of 
the Government, each in its province, to inquire into and punish viola- 
tions of the laws of the United States which have occurred. I can but 
repeat what I said in this connection in my last message, that whatever 
authority rests with me to this end I shall not hesitate to put forth ; and 
I am unwilling to forego a renewed appeal to the legislatures, the courts, 
the executive authorities, and the people of the States where these 
wrongs have been perpetrated, to give their assistance toward bringing 
to justice the offenders and preventing a repetition of the crimes. No 
means within my power will be spared to obtain a full and fair 
investigation of the alleged crimes and to secure the conviction and just 
punishment of the guilty. 

It is to be observed that the principal appropriation made for the 
Department of Justice at the last session contained the following clause: 
"And for defraying the expenses which may be incurred in the enforce- 
ment of the act approved February 28, 1876, entitled 'An act to amend 
an act approved May 30, 1870, entitled "An act to enforce the rights 
of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of the Union, 
and for other purposes, " 'or any acts amendatory thereof or supplement- 
ary thereto." 

It is the opinion of the Attorney-General that the expenses of these 
proceedings will largely exceed the amount which was thus provided, 
and I rely confidently upon Congress to make adequate appropriations 
to enable the executive department to enforce the laws. 

I respectfully urge upon your attention that the congressional elec- 
tions, in every district, in a very important sense, are justly a matter 



176 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

of political interest and concern throughout the whole country. Each 
State, every political party, is entitled to the share of power which is 
conferred by the legal and constitutional suffrage. It is the right of every 
citizen, possessing the qualifications prescribed by law, to cast one un- 
intimidated ballot and to have his ballot honestly counted. So long 
as the exercise of this power and the enjoyment of this right are common 
and equal, practically as well as formally, submission to the results of 
the suffrage will be accorded loyally and cheerfully, and all the depart- 
ments of Government will feel the true vigor of the popular will thus 
expressed. No temporary or administrative interests of government, 
however urgent or weighty, will ever displace the zeal of our people 
in defense of the primary rights of citizenship. They understand that 
the protection of liberty requires the maintenance, in full vigor, of the 
manly methods of free speech, free press, and free suflFrage, and will 
sustain the full authority of Government to enforce the laws which are 
framed to preserve these inestimable rights. The material progress and 
welfare of the States depend on the protection afforded to their citizens. 
There can be no peace without such protection, no prosperity without 
peace, and the whole country is deeply interested in the growth and 
prosperity of all its parts. 

WTiile the country has not yet reached complete unity of feeling and 
reciprocal confidence between the communities so lately and so seriously 
estranged, I feel an absolute assurance that the tendencies are in that 
direction and with increasing force. The power of public opinion will 
override all political prejudices, and all sectional or state attachments, 
in demanding that all over our wide territory the name and character 
of citizen of the United States shall mean one and the same thing, and 
carry with them unchallenged security and respect. 

These paragraphs clearly showed that the President had no 
doubt of the duty of the National Government, within its con- 
stitutional power, to guard the purity of congressional elections. 
The individual State or district is not alone interested in who 
shall represent it in the Federal Congress. All States and all 
districts are interested in having every member of Congress the 
true representative and choice of the free and uncontrolled vote 
of his constituency. If the attainment of this desirable end can 
best be secured or forwarded by federal control, the Constitution 
gives its sanction to legislation for that purpose. It is simply a 
question of policy and practical statesmanship, about which men 
may honestly differ, whether the entire conduct of congressional 
elections shall be left to state and local regulation and control, 
or whether the National Government shall exercise its right 
to interfere. The Republicans at that period were committed 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 177 

conscientiously to the latter view and the President was in com- 
plete accord with his party's contention. The Democrats pro- 
claimed their determination at all hazards to return to the old 
practice, under which the National Government refrained from 
the exercise of any authority at the polls. All the indications 
pointed to a fierce contest when Congress should assemble. That 
the President rightly apprehended the situation is proved by 
the following entry in his diary of March 9 : — 

The Forty-fifth Congress adjourned without making provision for 
the support of the army and for the payment of the civil list. I there- 
fore immediately called a special session of the Forty-sixth Congress to 
meet the 18th — two weeks after the adjournment of the Forty-fifth 
Congress. 

The appropriation bills were defeated by a disagreement between the 
House and Senate. The House insisted on the right to force its views 
on several questions of general legislation upon the Senate by the threat 
of defeating appropriations if the Senate did not yield. The Senate 
adhered to its own views — hence no appropriations for the purposes 
named. Now the question will come to me. 

The Senate and House in the Forty-sixth Congress, being both Demo- 
cratic, will insist on the right to repeal the election laws, and in case of 
my refusal will put the repeal on the appropriation bills. They will stop 
the wheels — block the wheels of Government if I do not yield my con- 
victions in favor of the election laws. It will be a severe, perhaps a long 
contest. I do not fear it. I do not even dread it. The people will not 
allow this revolutionary cause to triumph. 

In the new Congress the Democrats had a clear majority of 
eight in the Senate ^ and of seven in the House. ^ The latter 
was considerably augmented by the Greenback contingent, who 
usually acted with the Democrats. Mr. Randall was reelected 
Speaker, and on March 19 the President sent to Congress the 
l\ following characteristically brief message : — 

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: 
The failure of the last Congress to make the requisite appropriations 
for legislative and judicial purposes, for the expenses of the several 
executive departments of the Government, and for the support of the 
army, has made it necessary to call a special session of the Forty-sixth 
Congress. 

The estimates of the appropriations needed, which were sent to 

' Or ten, if Judge Davis is counted with the Democrats. 
* The Tribune Almanac gives this classification: Republicans, 130; Demo- 
crats, 149; Republican Nationals, 5; Democratic Nationals, 7; Nationals, 2. 



178 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury at the opening of the last 
session, are renewed, and are herewith transmitted to both the Senate 
and the House of Representatives. 

Regretting the existence of the emergency which requires a special 
session of Congress at a time when it is the general judgment of the 
country that the public welfare will be best promoted by permanency 
in our legislation and by peace and rest, I commend these few necessary 
measures to your considerate attention. 

Rutherford B. Hayes. 

Washington, March 19, 1879. 

The dignity and restraint of this utterance, at a time when 
partisan feeling ran so high and the public mind was tense with 
anticipation, made an altogether favorable impression on the 
country. The temptation must have been great to take cogni- 
zance of the rancorous disagreement in which the Forty -fifth 
Congress had come to final adjournment and to expound to Con- 
gress the President's views of the controversy. It is easy to imag- 
ine what torrents of recital, reproof, argument, and exhortation 
to duty some of Mr. Hayes's successors would have been likely 
to pour out upon Congress. But he contented himself with the 
most concise and colorless statement of the emergency requiring 
the special session, whose existence he regretted; expressed the 
judgment that the welfare of the country would at that time "be 
best promoted by permanency in our legislation and by peace 
and rest," and commended to Congress action in harmony Vv-ith 
that judgment. It had been better, doubtless, for the country 
and for the Democratic party had Mr. Hayes's counsel been fol- 
lowed. But the Democrats, rejoicing in the full control of Con- 
gress for the first time since Secession shattered their strength, 
were eager to assert their new power, and to display to the 
country the quality of their statesmanship. 

They took up the controversy where it was left on the 4th of 
March. At that time announcement was made by Senator Beck 
that the Democratic programme in the special session would be 
to pass the repeal bills as separate measures. If these were signed, 
the appropriation bills would at once be passed. If they were 
vetoed, they would again be attached to the appropriation bills, 
and it would "be for the President to determine whether he 
would block the wheels of the Government and refuse to accept 
necessary appropriations rather than allow the representatives 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 179 

of the people to repeal odious laws." It was in much this spirit 
of defiance and assertiveness, though many of the more sen- 
sible conservative Democrats deprecated threats of a policy so 
extreme, that the Democrats of Congress set about the task 
before them. The Democratic caucus spent much time in dis- 
cussion, finally leaving to a joint committee, of which Senator 
Thurman was made chairman, to determine on the party's 
course of conduct. The situation did not seem by any means 
so simple, nor the prospect of party triumph and popular sup- 
port of their programme so well assured, as their more ardent 
and aggressive leaders had been stridently proclaiming. At 
last it was decided to abandon the plan outlined by Senator 
Beck and to insist on attaching the measures in controversy to 
the appropriation bUls as had been done in the last Congress.^ 
The first bill to be pressed was the army appropriation bill 
with its rider repealing the law authorizing the use of the army 
"to keep the peace at the polls"; preference being given to 
this bill, no doubt, on the theory that with President Hayes's 
known aversion to the use of soldiers at the polls, it was less 
likely to incur a Presidential veto. This bill was introduced 
March 27. There followed a long and spirited debate in both the 
House and the Senate, in which the leading men of both parties 
participated, covering every phase of the controversy. It was 
nearly a month before the bill was passed (April 25) and reached 
the President. 

Meanwhile, not only the matter of this bill, but all the issues 
involved in the Democratic legislative programme, had been 
the subject of the President's solicitous meditation, and of fre- 
quent discussion by him with the members of the Cabinet and 

^ ''We are in the midst of another revohitionary movement. It is not unlike 
the Potter affair. Already there are signs of weakening in the camp of the ring- 
leaders. But the speeches of last session by Beck and Thurman have committed 
the Senate, and the less pronounced serenade speeches of Randall and Black- 
bum embarrass them. Othen\ase there would be an instant letting down. As 
it is, we may have a protracted struggle. Of course I don't believe in test oaths, 
and do not care to use the military. But the state rights heresy that the nation 
cannot enact safeguards for national elections, and the still more dangerous doc- 
trine that a bare majority in the two houses can absorb all the powers of all the 
departments of the government cannot be under any conceivable circumstances 
approved when embodied in legislation." (From letter, written by Mr. Hayes, 
March 27, 1879, to William Henry Smith.) 



180 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

other leaders of the party. All this had only served to clarify and 
confirm his almost instinctive conviction of the duty incumbent 
upon him. The Constitution makes the President a part of the 
lawmaking power. Every bill passed by the two houses of Con- 
gress before it becomes a law must be submitted to him. " If he 
approve he shall sign it; but if not he shall return it, with his 
objections, to the house in which it shall have originated." Then, 
unless on reconsideration two thirds of each house vote to pass 
the bill, it cannot become a law. Now, it was evident that the 
Democrats, by attaching to appropriation bills legislation which 
the President did not approve, or W'hich they suspected he did 
not approve, were seeking to force him, as in the Forty-fifth 
Congress the Democrats of the House had sought to exercise 
similar coercion on the Senate, to surrender his constitutional 
prerogative on pain of a stoppage of the necessary supplies. The 
right to veto any bill that the President does not approve is 
plenary. The talk about denying supplies until there should be a 
redress of grievances after the manner of the British Parliament 
was idle, inasmuch as under our constitutional system the Presi- 
dent is quite as much the representative of the people as is Con- 
gress. For Congress to seek by threats or coercive action to do 
by a bare majority what it has only the constitutional right to 
do by a tw^o-thirds vote is a virtual usurpation of authority, an 
encroachment on the right and power of the Executive.^ It was 
no new thing, to be sure, to attach riders to appropriation bills, 
vicious as the practice was generally admitted to be. Both parties 
had engaged in it. But usually when this had been done Con- 
gress and the President were in accord in regard to the proposed 
measure, or the advocates of the measure could command a two- 
thirds vote of both houses, and the method had been pursued to 
facilitate acceptable legislation, not to force the President to sign 

^ The temper of leading Republican statesmen is accurately reflected by the 
following extract from a letter to the President by Senator Hoar (May 1, 1879): 
"The more I reflect on the present condition of things, the more I am convinced 
that no change in general legislation and no intimation of willingness to make 
any change should be given to the Democratic majority until after the appro- 
priation bills have passed without condition. The present attitude is menace. 
The extra session is menace; and you cannot tell a man who holds his clenched 
fist in your face what you will do when he takes it away. I am satisfied that this 
is the point on which Republicans are united and that this feeling is shared by 
many wise and conservative Democrats." 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 181 

a bill that he did not approve. Congress had the undoubted right 
to put any legislation it pleased in an appropriation bill. The 
President might object to the manner of a bill, but unless he 
disapproved of its matter he would not be justified in refusing to 
sign it. IVIr. Hayes's mind was clear on this score. It was equally 
clear that the repeal bill in the form presented was in itself ob- 
jectionable; and all the more so as it implied a reassertion of the 
extreme state rights doctrine which the war was thought to have 
utterly discredited; ^ while the manner of its adoption was an 
attack on the independence of the Executive which his duty to 
the country required him to resent. 

Numerous passages in the diarj^ during March and April afford 
convincing testimony of the vividness of JNIr. Hayes's apprecia- 
tion of the crisis and of his conscientious endeavor to analyze its 
elements and to give just weight to conflicting considerations of 
their importance. A few excerpts will show their quality : — 

March 18. — The House organized to-day by electing Mr. Randall 
Speaker. To-morrow I will send in my short message to Congress in 
special session. An important struggle then begins. The Democrats 
will attempt by coercion of the President to secure a repeal of legisla- 
tion which I deem wise and important. This is to place the Executive 
"under the coercive dictation" of a bare majority of the two houses 
of Congress. This is a mode of evading the constitutional provision 
as to the President's participation in legislation. It is a "measure of 
coercion," a revolutionary measure. 

I must resist it to the last extremity . . . No precedent shall be 
established with my consent to a measure which is tantamount to co- 
ercion of the Executive. I stand for "the equal" and constitutional 
"independence of the Executive." The independence of the different 
departments of the Government is essential to the progress and the 
existence of good government. 

Loving the order, the peace, the perpetuity of our institutions, I 
must go on to the end of my term. . . . 

As to some of the measures which it is sought to repeal, I would 
regard it a duty to approve separate bills, framed in the usual way, 
for that purpose. And as to all of them, I would consider with favor 

^ George William Curtis, in Harper's Weekly (May 31), strongly stated the 
prevailing conservative opinion: "The extra session . . . has revealed the Demo- 
cratic party as the champion of state sovereignty as against the Union, and as 
toying with revolution upon an utterly false cry. It has united the Republican 
party enthusiastically in defense of the principle which was established by the 
war. It has given the Republicans a patriotic, constitutional, and conservative 
platform, upon which all intelligent citizens will gladly stand " 



182 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

independent measures modifying, amending, and improving them, 
without impairing their efficiency. But presented in a way and for the 
purpose of coercion, I cannot even consider their merits. 

March 22. — The Democratic members of the two houses of Congress 
have held caucuses, and appointed committees to decide the course they 
will take as to the measures which caused the deadlock between the 
House and Senate at the end of the last session. It now seems probable 
that they will put all of their repealing measures into one bill — a bill 
which will repeal the jurors' oaths, the law authorizing soldiers to keep 
the peace at the polls, and the law which provides for the appointment 
of deputy marshals to protect the polls. If presented to me I should 
probably feel it to be my duty to veto such a bill. The law as to the ap- 
pointment of marshals to protect the supervisors and prevent violence 
and fraud may require extensive modifications. But that there should 
be such officers — officers as impartial as possible — is almost a necessity. 
Do not the States provide some such machinery for state elections.' Is 
mere supervision enough? Do not the States provide for keeping the 
peace at the polls at state elections.' Should not the nation do it at 
national elections? Whatever force by means of civil officers the States 
provide should be provided by the nation. 

Experience has shown that the protection and conduct of national 
elections cannot safely be left to the States. I cannot consent to the 
repeal of the election laws enacted by Congress, unless others equally 
effective are substituted. ... If national military force is not allowed 
to keep the peace at the polls, civil authority should be provided for 
that purpose. . . . 

The principle of the bill is a denial of the right and duty of the 
nation to legislate for the security of congressional elections. The 
State may have its military at the polls and its police, but the nation 
is to be powerless. Or rather, the bill admits the right, the duty and 
the necessity for national supervision, but denies the power to make it 
effective. 

March 23. — The Democrats in Congress show signs of receding from 
their revolutionary programme. They now talk of trying to remove the 
objectionable features in the election laws. But the claim still seems 
to be all but universal that the National Government has no right to 
use force, either military or civil, to protect the freedom of the elections. 
The States alone are to be allowed such powers. They may have both 
military and police forces, but the nation is to be confined to mere 
supervision, observation, and the like. This will not do. The authority 
of the National Government must be maintained. 

The proposed compromise measure does not protect the polls from 
military interference. There may be soldiers, police, and the -posse 
comitatus at the polls. But they must be under state authority. The 
National Government alone is forbidden to exhibit force to keep the 



I 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 183 

peace and protect electors. This is not the principle of the Constitution. 
This whole power is expressly vested in the United States. . . . 

Suppose the President should say I will sign no bill on any subject of 
general legislation until the appropriation bills are passed? 

I do not call in question the motives of those with whom I am unable 
to agree, but believing the tendency of this bill is to deprive the Presi- 
dent of the share in legislation which is imposed (conferred) upon him 
by the Constitution, I cannot approve it. The attempt to pass a meas- 
ure under a menace that the Government shall be stopped if the Presi- 
dent declines to yield his convictions of duty has never yet succeeded — 
has never before been made. To consent to it is to make a radical 
change in the character of the Government. The House of Representa- 
tives, in case this principle is established, becomes the Government. 
With the sole power to originate the measures upon which the existence 
of the Government depends, and with the doctrine established that the 
House may legitimately refuse to act unless the other branches of the 
Government obey its commands, the House of Representatives will 
become a despotism with unlimited power. 

March 27. — I am convinced that it is my duty to exhaust every 
executive authority committed to me by the Constitution and the 
laws to secure to everj' citizen having the requisite ' qualifications 
the right to cast one unintimidated ballot and to have it honestly 
counted. 

These laws, framed as safeguards of honest elections, adopted by 
more than two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress, approved 
by the President, carried into effect during the last eight years in many 
States, without serious question of their validity by any court of the 
United States, called into action on the application of both political 
parties in diflferent States, with a very general conviction among the 
people that national laws are necessary to secure from violence and 
fraud the national elections — I cannot consent to their absolute repeal. 
If national laws can be framed which will better secure impartiality, 
less expense, or greater efficiency, I will cheerfully concur with Congress 
in such legislation. But if it is sought to repeal this or any other legisla- 
tion and to obtain the approval of the President by the threat that 
Congress will grant no supplies to carry on the Government unless such 
approval is had, I am compelled by my convictions of duty to use every 
constitutional authority (means) at my command to prevent the repeal 
upon such terms. 

Every measure should stand or fall on its own merits. This should be 
the fundamental principle in legislation. 

March 28. — The appropriation bill for the army was introduced into 
the House yesterday in accordance with the caucus plan and consider- 
able progress was made toward its passage. There is tacked to it the 
repeal of the right to employ the army to keep the peace at elections. 



184 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

I do not regard the measure thus tacked to the army appropriation 
bill as of vital importance. The army, as a matter of fact, cannot and 
will not be used for that purpose. But the measure is objectionable. It 
applies to all elections, national as well as state, and denies, therefore, 
the right of the nation to keep the peace at the national elections which 
by the Constitution are under the national control, and at the same 
time leaves the power to the States to use state troops at the national 
elections. There should be no such discrimmation against the national 
authority. If the presence of the military at elections should be for- 
bidden, the prohibition should apply equally to all soldiers — to those 
of the States as well as to those of the nation. A general and equal 
measure framed to accomplish the purpose of preventmg any soldiers, 
whether state or national, from interfering m the elections would meet 
my approval. ... 

This repeal prevents persons in the civil service of the United States 
— the civil as well as the military officers of the United States — from 
keeping the peace at the polls. It is not the military power of the United 
States alone, but it is the civil power also which is to be excluded from 
the elections. 

The President's right is to exercise his discretion and judgment upon 
all bills presented to him, without constraint or duress laid upon him by 
a coordinate branch of the Government. 

March 29. — This is a controversy which cannot and ought not to be 
compromised. The revolutionists claim that a bare majority in the 
Hftuse of Representatives shall control all legislation, by tacking the 
measures they can't pass through the Senate, or over the President's 
objections, to the appropriation bills, which are required to carry on the 
Government. They claim the right to do this under the Constitution 
and say it is according to the practice and precedents in England. In 
the presence of this claim it is idle to talk of compromises as to the par- 
ticular measures which are used as riders on the appropriation bills. 
These measures may be wise or unwise. It is enough to say in regard to 
them, that, used as they are to establish a doctrine which overthrows 
the constitutional distribution of power between the different depart- 
ments of the Government, and consolidates in the House of Representa- 
tives the whole lawmaking power of the Government, and with it the 
judicial and executive authority as well, we will not discuss or consider 
them when they are so presented. . . . 

Unquestionably the true rule of legislation is that each measure 
should stand or fall on its own merits. This wise and salutary rule has, 
however, been departed from so often, and the practice has been so long 
established by the action of all parties, that I may not now insist upon 
its non-observance as a ground for withholding my approval to bills 
submitted to me. ... 

To tack political legislation (measures) to appropriation bills and 
to threaten that no appropriations will be made unless the political 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 185 

measures are approved is not in my judgment constitutional con- 
duct. 

March 31. — Mr. Evarts regards the controversy as growing out of 
the wish of party leaders to make issues for the next Presidential elec- 
tion. That the Democrats began it and that the Republicans are now 
in it. That the Administration should keep out of it. He does n't seem 
to see that it is merely a new form of the old conflict between ultra States' 
rights and the national doctrines. The state rights men are for putting 
all power in local authorities. We believe the national authority should 
be exerted to protect elections which are national so far [as] the Con- 
stitution sanctions. We have none too many safeguards for the elec- 
tions. Mr. Hoar agreed with me that in the present situation I may 
properly veto any appropriation bill which contains political legislation 
tacked to it for the purpose of compelling me to approve it under the 
threat that otherwise the Government shall be stopped for want of 
supplies, no matter what may be the merits of such legislation. In doing 
it the history of this extra session may be given to show the purpose of 
the House in attaching a political measure to an appropriation bill. 
They mean to obtain and establish a precedent for (which will lead to) 
the consolidation of all of the powers of the Government in the hands 
of a bare majority of the House of Representatives. 

The present controversy is in no sense partisan, and it is not a ques- 
tion of race or color. The old question [of] States' rights always seems 
closely related to sectional and race conflicts, but this is chiefly as a 
reminiscence. No present interest of a sectional character is involved. 
The laws concerned are mainly employed in the densely peopled regions 
of the North. 

The law proposed to be repealed was passed by the concurrent action 
of both political parties, and became a law by the approval of President 
Lincoln. 

April 6. — The executive power to approve or return without ap- 
proval, according to the conscience and judgment of the President, is a 
trust. It can't be given away without a violation of official oath. It is 
my duty to guard as a trust the powers conferred on the office which has 
devolved upon me. 

No power denied to the army by this bill now belongs to the army. 
If there was doubt on this question the Act of June 18, 1878, removed it. 
The last elections for members of Congress, and all of the recent elec- 
tions in all of the States, have been held without, so far as I am in- 
formed, a single complaint even of military interference. 

By the time the army bill was passed, Mr. Hayes had his veto 
message substantially completed. He added the last paragraph 
the very evening that the bill reached his hands, and either read 



186 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

it or communicated its substance to members of the Cabinet, 
who all gave it their approval.^ It was transmitted to Congress 
April 29, and was as follows : — 

To THE House of Representatives : — 

I have maturely considered the important questions presented by 
the bill entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the 
army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, and for other purposes," 
and I now return it to the House of Representatives, in which it orig- 
inated, with my objections to its approval. 

The bill provides in the usual form for the appropriations required 
for the support of the army during the next fiscal year. If it contained 
no other provisions, it would receive my prompt approval. It includes, 
however, further legislation, which, attached as it is to appropriations 
which are requisite for the efficient performance of some of the most 
necessary duties of the Government, involves questions of the gravest 
character. The sixth section of the bill is amendatory of the statute now 
in force in regard to the authority of persons in the civil, military, and 
naval service of the United States, "at the place where any general or 
special election is held in any State." This statute was adopted Febru- 
ary 25, 1865, after a protracted debate in the Senate, and almost with- 
out opposition in the House of Representatives, by the concurrent votes 
of both of the leading political parties of the country, and became a law 
by the approval of President Lincoln. It was reenacted in 1874 in the 
Revised Statutes of the United States — sections 2002 and 5528, which 
are as follows : — 

"Sec. 2002. No military or naval officer or other person engaged in 
the civil, military, or naval service of the United States shall order, 
bring, keep, or have under his authority- or control any troops or armed 
men at the place where any general or special election is held in any 
State, unless it be necessary to repel the armed enemies of the United 
States, or to keep the peace at the polls." 

"Sec 5528. Every officer of the army or navy, or other person in 
the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, who orders, 

^ "I read my veto message last evening to Judge Carter. He said, 'It is all 
gold — pure gold'; 'It will be your great act,' and the like. Schurz and Devens 
approved of it decidedly after hearing it all read. I told the points of it fully 
to Colonel Thompson, and he approved. Sherman, Key, and McCrary fully 
endorsed my general views before the paper was written. Mr. Evarts, on hear- 
ing my account of it Saturday evening, fully approved. I may not call a Cabinet 
meeting to hear it. There is betting and selling of pools here and in New York 
on the question whether I will sign or veto. Friendly Republicans all feel con- 
fident that I will sign. Hostile Republicans profess to be in doubt, and ho]K I 
will sign. Their number is now small, — only the implacables, — the patronage 
brokers." (Diary, April 28.) — It is apparent that by a slip of the pen Mr. 
Hayes wrote sign in the two sentences preceding the last when he intended 
to write veto. 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 187 

brings, keeps, or has under his authority or control any troops or armed 
men at any place where a general or special election is held in any State, 
unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United 
States or to keep the peace at the polls, shall be fined not more than five 
thousand dollars, and sufifer imprisonment at hard labor not less than 
three months nor more than five years." 

The amendment proposed to this statute, in the bill before me, omits 
from both of the foregoing sections the words "or to keep the peace at 
the polls." The effect of the adoption of this amendment may be con- 
sidered — 

First. Upon the right of the United States Government to use mili- 
tary force to keep the peace at the elections for members of Congress; 
and — 

Second. Upon the right of the Government, by civil authority, to 
protect these elections from violence and fraud. 

In addition to the sections of the statute above quoted, the following 
provisions of law relating to the use of the military power at the elections 
are now in force. [The sections cited by the President were 2003 and 
5529-5532 inclusive.] 

The foregoing enactments would seem to be sufficient to prevent mili- 
tary interference with the elections. But the last Congress, to remove all 
apprehension of such interference, added to this body of law: section 
15 of an act entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of 
the army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, and for other pur- 
poses," approved June 18, 1878, which is as follows. [This section, 
which is omitted here, forbade the use of any part of the army as a posse 
comitatus.] 

This act passed the Senate, after full consideration, without a single 
vote recorded against it on its final passage, and, by a majority of more 
than two thirds, it was concurred in by the House of Representatives. 

The purpose of the section quoted was stated in the Senate by one of 
its supporters as follows : — 

"Therefore I hope, without getting into any controversy about the 
past, but acting wisely for the future, that we shall take away the idea 
that the army can be used by a general or special deputy marshal, or 
any marshal, merely for election purposes as a posse, ordering them 
about the polls or ordering them anywhere else, when there is no elec- 
tion going on, to prevent disorders or to suppress disturbances that 
should be suppressed by the peace officers of the State, or, if they must 
bring others to their aid, they should summon the unorganized citizens, 
and not summon the ofiicers and men of the army as a posse comitatus 
to quell disorders, and thus get up a feeling which will be disastrous to 
peace among the people of the country." 

In the House of Representatives the object of the Act of 1878 was 
stated by the gentleman who had it in charge in similar terms. He 
said. [Quotation here is omitted.] 

From this brief review of the subject, it sufficiently appears that, 



188 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

under existing laws, there can be no military interference with the elec- 
tions. No case of such interference has, in fact, occurred since the pas- 
sage of the act last referred to. No soldier of the United States has ap- 
peared under orders at any place of election in any State. No complaint 
even of the presence of United States troops has been made in any quar- 
ter. It may, therefore, be confidently stated that there is no necessity 
for the enactment of section six of the bill before me, to prevent military 
interference with the elections. The laws already in force are all that is 
required for that end. 

But that part of section six of this bill which is significant and vitally 
important, is the clause which, if adopted, will deprive the civil authori- 
ties of the United States of all power to keep the peace at the congres- 
sional elections. The congressional elections in every district, in a very 
important sense, are justly a matter of political interest and concern 
throughout the whole country. Each State, every political party, is 
entitled to the share of power which is conferred by the legal and consti- 
tutional suffrage. It is the right of every citizen, possessing the qualifi- 
cations prescribed by law, to cast one unintimidated ballot and to have 
his ballot honestly counted. So long as the exercise of this power and the 
enjoyment of this right are common and equal, practically as well as 
formally, submission to the results of the suffrage will be accorded loy- 
ally and cheerfully, and all the departments of Government will feel the 
true vigor of the popular will thus expressed. 

Two provisions of the Constitution authorize legislation by Congress 
for the regulation of the congressional elections. Section 4 of article 1 of 
the Constitution declares: 

"The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and 
Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature 
thereof; but the Congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such 
regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators." 

The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution is as follows: — 

"Sec. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not 
be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account 
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

"Sec. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation." 

The Supreme Court has held that this amendment invests the citizens 
of the United States with a new constitutional right which is within the 
protecting power of Congress. That right the court declares to be 
exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The power 
of Congress to protect this right by appropriate legislation is expressly 
affirmed by the court. 

National legislation to provide safeguards for free and honest elections 
is necessary, as experience has shown, not only to secure the riglit to 
vote to the enfranchised race at the South, but also to prevent fraudu- 
lent voting in the large cities of the North. Congress has therefore 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 189 

exercised the power conferred by the Constitution, and has enacted 
certain laws to prevent discriminations on account of race, color, or 
previous condition of servitude, and to punish fraud, violence, and 
intimidation at federal elections. Attention is called to the following 
sections of the Revised Statutes of the United States, viz. : — 

Section 2004, which guarantees to all citizens the right to vote without 
distinction on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Sections 2005 and 2006, which guarantee to all citizens equal oppor- 
tunity, without discrimination, to perform all the acts required by law 
as a prerequisite or qualification for voting. 

Section 2022, which authorizes the United States Marshal and his 
deputies to keep the peace and preserve order at the federal elections. 

Section 2024, which expressly authorizes the United States Marshal 
and his deputies to summon a posse comitatus whenever they or any of 
them are forcibly resisted in the execution of their duties under the law, 
or are prevented from executing such duties by violence. 

Section 5522, which provides for the punishment of the crime of in- 
terfering with the supervisors of elections and deputy marshals in the 
discharge of their duties at the elections of Representatives in Congress. 

These are some of the laws on this subject which it is the duty of the 
executive department of the Government to enforce. The intent and 
effect of the sixth section of this bill is to prohibit all the civil officers of 
the United States, under penalty of fine and imprisonment, from employ- 
ing any adequate civil force for this purpose at the place where their 
enforcement is most necessary, namely, at the places where the congres- 
sional elections are held. Among the most valuable enactments to which 
I have referred are those which protect the supervisors of federal elec- 
tions in the discharge of their duties at the polls. If the proposed legisla- 
tion should become the law, there will be no power vested in any officer 
of the Government to protect from violence the officers of the United 
States engaged in the discharge of their duties. Their rights and duties 
under the law will remain, but the National Government will be power- 
less to enforce its own statutes. The States may employ both military 
and civil power to keep the peace, and to enforce the laws at state elec- 
tions. It is now proposed to deny to the United States even the neces- 
sary civil authority to protect the national elections. No sufficient reason 
has been given for this discrimination in favor of the state and against 
the national authority. If well-founded objections exist against the 
present national election laws, all good citizens should unite in their 
amendment. The laws providing the safeguards of the elections should 
be impartial, just, and efficient. They should, if possible, be so non- 
partisan and fair in their operation that the minoritj'' — the party out 
of power — will have no just grounds to complain. The present laws 
have, in practice, unquestionably conduced to the prevention of fraud 
and violence at the elections. In several of the States, members of differ- 
ent political parties have applied for the safeguards which they furnish. 
It is the right and duty of the National Government to enact and enforce 



190 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

laws which will secure free and fair congressional elections. The laws 
now in force should not be repealed except in connection with the enact- 
ment of measures which will better accomplish that important end. 
Believing that section six of the bill before me will weaken, if it does not 
altogether take away, the power of the National Government to protect 
the federal elections by the civil authorities, I am forced to the conclu- 
sion that it ought not to receive my approval. 

This section is, however, not presented to me as a separate and inde- 
pendent measure, but is, as has been stated, attached to the bill making 
the usual annual appropriations for the support of the army. It makes a 
vital change in the election laws of the country, which is in no way con- 
nected with the use of the army. It prohibits, under heavy penalties, 
any person engaged in the civil service of the United States from having 
any force at the place of any election prepared to preserve order, to 
make arrests, to keep the peace, or in any manner to enforce the laws. 
This is altogether foreign to the purpose of an army appropriation bill. 
The practice of tacking to appropriation bills measures not pertinent to 
such bills did not prevail until more than forty years after the adoption 
of the Constitution. It has become a common practice. All parties 
when in power have adopted it. Many abuses and great waste of public 
money have in this way crept into appropriation bills. The public opin- 
ion of the country is against it. The States which have recently adopted 
constitutions have generally provided a remedy for the evil, by enacting 
that no law shall contain more than one subject, which shall be plainly 
expressed in its title. The constitutions of more than half of the States 
contain substantially this provision. The public welfare will be pro- 
moted in many ways by a return to the early practice of the Government 
and to the true principle of legislation, which requires that every meas- 
ure shall stand or fall according to its own merits. If it were understood 
that to attach to an appropriation bill a measure irrelevant to the gen- 
eral object of the bill would imperil and probably prevent its final pas- 
sage and approval, a valuable reform in the parliamentary' practice of 
Congress would be accomplished. The best justification that has been 
offered for attaching irrelevant riders to appropriation bills is that it is 
done for convenience' sake, to facilitate the passage of measures which 
are deemed expedient by all the branches of Government which partici- 
pate in legislation. It cannot be claimed that there is any such reason 
for attaching this amendment of the election laws to the army appropri- 
ation bill. The history of the measure contradicts this assumption. A 
majority of the House of Representatives in the last Congress was in 
favor of section six of this bill. It was known that a majority of the 
Senate was opposed to it, and that as a separate measure it could not be 
adopted. It was attached to the army appropriation bill to compel the 
Senate to assent to it. It was plainly announced to the Senate that 
the army appropriation bill would not be allowed to pass unless the 
proposed amendments of the election laws were adopted with it. The 
Senate refused to assent to the bill on account of this irrelevant section. 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 191 

Congress thereupon adjourned without passing an appropriation bill for 
the army, and the present extra session of the Forty-sixth Congress 
became necessary to furnish the means to carry on the Government. 

The ground upon which the action of the House of Representatives is 
defended has been distinctly stated by many of its advocates. A week 
before the close of the last session of Congress the doctrine in question 
was stated by one of its ablest defenders, as follows: — 

"It is our duty to repeal these laws. It is not worth while to attempt 
the repeal except upon an appropriation bill. The Republican Senate 
would not agree to, nor the Republican President sign, a bill for such 
repeal. Whatever objection to legislation upon appropriation bills may 
be made in ordinary cases does not apply where free elections and the 
liberty of the citizen are concerned. . . . We have the power to vote 
money; let us annex conditions to it, and insist upon the redress of 
grievances." 

By another distinguished member of the House it was said: — 

"The right of the representatives of the people to withhold supplies 
is as old as English liberty. History records numerous instances where 
the Commons, feeling that the people were oppressed by laws that the 
Lords would not consent to repeal by the ordinary methods of legisla- 
tion, obtained redress at last by refusing appropriations unless accom- 
panied by relief measures." 

That a question of the gravest magnitude, and new in this country, 
was raised by this course of proceeding, was fully recognized also by its 
defenders in the Senate. It was said by a distinguished Senator: — 

"Perhaps no greater question in the form we are brought to consider 
it was ever considered by the American Congress in time of peace; for 
it involves not merely the merits or demerits of the laws which the House 
bill proposes to repeal, but involves the rights, the privileges, the 
powers, the duties of the two branches of Congress and of the President 
of the United States. It is a vast question; it is a question whose im- 
portance can scarcely be estimated ; it is a question that never yet has 
been brought so sharply before theAmerican Congress and the American 
people as it may be now. It is a question which sooner or later must be 
decided, and the decision must determine what are the powers of the 
House of Representatives under the Constitution, and what is the duty 
of that House in the view of the framers of that Constitution according 
to its letter and its spirit. 

"Mr. President, I should approach this question, if I were in the best 
possible condition to speak and to argue it, with very grave diflSdence 
and certainly with the utmost anxiety, for no one can think of it as long 
and as carefully as I have thought of it without seeing that we are at the 
beginning perhaps of a struggle that may last as long in this country as a 
similar struggle lasted in what we are accustomed to call the mother 
land. There the struggle lasted for two centuries before it was ultimately 
decided. It is not likely to last so long here, but it may last until every 
man in this chamber is in his grave. It is the question whether or no the 



192 RUTHERFORD BTRCHARD HAYES 

House of Representatives has a right to say: *We will grant supplies 
only upon condition that grievances are redressed. We are the repre- 
sentatives of the taxpayers of the Republic. We, the House of Reprc 
sentatives, alone have the right to originate money bills; we, the House 
of Representatives, have alone the right to originate bills which grant 
the money of the people; the Senate represents States; we represent the 
taxpayers of the Republic; we, therefore, by the very terms of the Con- 
stitution, are charged with the duty of originating the bills which grant 
the money of the people. We claim the right, which the House of Com- 
mons in England established, after two centuries of contest, to say that 
we will not grant the money of the people unless there is a redress of 
grievances.' " 

Upon the assembling of this Congress, in pursuance of a call for an 
extra session, which was made necessary by the failure of the Forty- 
fifth Congress to make the needful appropriations for the support of the 
Government, the question was presented whether the attempt made 
in the last Congress to engraft by construction a new principle upon the 
Constitution should be persisted in or not. This Congress has ample 
opportunity and time to pass the appropriation bills, and also to enact 
any political measures which may be determined upon in separate bills 
by the usual and orderly methods of proceeding. But the majority of 
both houses have deemed it wise to adhere to the principle asserted and 
maintained in the last Congress by the majority of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. That principle is, that the House of Representatives has the 
sole right to originate bills for raising revenue, and therefore has the right 
to withhold appropriations upon which the existence of the Government 
may depend unless the Senate and the President shall give their assent 
to any legislation which the House may see fit to attach to appropriation 
bills. To establish this principle is to make a radical, dangerous, and un- 
constitutional change in the character of our institutions. The various 
departments of the Government, and the army and the navy, are estab- 
lished by the Constitution, or by laws passed in pursuance thereof. Their 
duties are clearly defined, and their support is carefully provided for by 
law. The money required for this purpose has been collected from the 
people, and is now in the Treasury, ready to be paid out as soon as the 
appropriation bills are passed. Whether appropriations are made or not, 
the collection of the taxes will go on. The public money will accumulate 
in the Treasury. It was not the intention of the framers of the Constitu- 
tion that any single branch of the Government should have the power to 
dictate conditions upon which this treasure should be applied to the 
purposes for which it was collected. Any such intention, if it had been 
entertained, would have been plainly expressed in the Constitution. 

That a majority of the Senate now concurs in the claim of the House 
adds to the gravity of the situation, but does not alter the question at 
issue. The new doctrine, if maintained, will result in a consolidation of 
unchecked and despotic power in the House of Representatives. A bare 
majority of the House will become the Government. The Executive will 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 193 

no longer be, what the framers of the Constitution intended, an equal 
and independent branch of the Government. It is clearly the constitu- 
tional duty of the President to exercise his discretion and judgment upon 
all bills presented to him without constraint or duress from any other 
branch of the Government. To say that a majority of either or both of 
the houses of Congress may insist on the approval of a bill under the 
penalty of stopping all of the operations of the Government for want of 
the necessary supplies, is to deny to the Executive that share of the 
legislative power which is plainly conferred by the second section of the 
seventh article of the Constitution. It strikes from the Constitution the 
qualified negative of the President. It is said that this should be done 
because it is the peculiar function of the House of Representatives to 
represent the will of the people. But no single branch or department of 
the Government has exclusive authority to speak for the American peo- 
ple. The most authentic and solemn expression of their will is contained 
in the Constitution of the United States. By that Constitution they 
have ordained and established a Government whose powers are dis- 
tributed among coordinate branches, which, as far as possible, consist- 
ently with a harmonious cooperation, are absolutely independent of 
each other. The people of this country are unwilling to see the suprem- 
acy of the Constitution replaced by the omnipotence of any depart- 
ment of the Government. 

The enactment of this bill into a law will establish a precedent which 
will tend to destroy the equal independence of the several branches of 
the Government. Its principle places not merely the Senate and the 
Executive, but the Judiciary also, under the coercive dictation of the 
House. The House alone will be the judge of what constitutes a griev- 
ance, and also of the means and measures of redress. An act of Congress 
to protect elections is now the grievance complained of. But the House 
may on the same principle determine that any other act of Congress, a 
treaty made by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
a nomination or appointment to office, or that a decision or opinion of 
the Supreme Court, is a grievance, and that the measure of redress is to 
withhold the appropriations required for the support of the offending 
branch of the Government. 

Believing that this bill is a dangerous violation of the spirit and mean- 
ing of the Constitution, I am compelled to return it to the House in 
which it originated without my approval. The qualified negative with 
which the Constitution invests the President is a trust that involves a 
duty which he cannot decline to perform. With a firm and conscientious 
purpose to do what I can to preserve unimpaired the constitutional 
powers and equal independence, not merely of the Executive, but of 
every branch of the Government, which will be imperilled by the adop- 
tion of the principle of this bill, I desire earnestly to urge upon the House 
of Representatives a return to the wise and wholesome usage of the 
earlier days of the Republic, which excluded from appropriation bills all 
irrelevant legislation. By this course you will inaugurate an important 



194 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

reform in the method of congressional legislation ; your action will be in 
harmony with the fundamental principles of the Constitution and the 
patriotic sentiment of nationality which is their firm support; and you 
will restore to the country that feeling of confidence and security and the 
repose which are so essential to the prosperity of all of our fellow citizens. 

Rutherford B. Hayes. 
ExBCUTivB Mansion, April 29, 1879. 

The essential features of the veto were: (1) That so far as the 
repeal related to the use of the army at the polls it was unneces- 
sary, inasmuch as the body of laws already in existence, and 
especially the posse comitatus law passed the year before, was 
amply sufficient to prevent any abuse. The fact that proposed 
legislation was unnecessary might not of itself justify a veto. But 
(2) the elision of the words, "or to keep the peace at the polls," 
from the two sections of the law in controversy, while the sections 
were themselves reenacted, left the law in such shape that even 
the civil officers of the National Government were forbidden to 
use armed men at the polls to suppress disorder or to enforce 
their authority. Thus civil officers of the Government would be 
stripped of necessary power to enforce federal laws, which the 
obligation of their office, their sworn duty, required them to 
enforce. Such paralysis of ability to enforce laws which he was 
sworn to execute, the President could not sanction. (3) The his- 
tory of this measure could not be ignored. The objectionable sec- 
tions were attached to the army appropriation bill, to which they 
were irrelevant, on the assumption by the House of Representa- 
tives that it had the right to withhold necessary appropriations, 
" unless the Senate and the President shall give their assent to any 
legislation which the House may see fit to attach to appropri- 
ation bills." To let this bill become a law, therefore, would be to 
"establish a precedent which would tend to destroy the equal 
independence of the several branches of the Government." The 
President could not be true to his sense of duty and give his sanc- 
tion to such a "dangerous violation of the spirit and meaning of 
the Constitution." 

The clear and forceful reasoning of the President, presented in 
calm, dispassionate phraseology, was accepted as conclusive by 
the sober sentiment of the country, already weary of the acrimo- 
nious debate in Washington. The Republicans for the moment 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 195 

were united in cordial support of the President. Even the carp- 
ing of the implacables gave way for the nonce to approbation 
and praise. The Democrats had no right to assume surprise 
at the veto. There had been abundant warnings of what they 
might expect. They, however, professed to be aggrieved. Cha- 
grin would better express their emotion. Their threats had not 
frightened the President in the least, and public discussion was 
making it clearer every day that the overwhelming sentiment 
of the country would bitterly condemn their party if they had 
the hardihood to carry their threats into execution. But they 
were not ready as yet to give up the contest. They immediately 
framed and quickly passed a separate bill which they thought 
would save the principle they were contending for and would 
be free of the objections found by the President in the vetoed 
measure. This bill read as follows: — 

Be it enacted, etc.. That it shall not be lawful to bring to or employ, 
at any place where a general or special election is being held in a State, 
any part of the army or navy of the United States, unless such force be 
necessary to repel the armed enemies of the United States, or to enforce 
Section 4, Article 4, of the Constitution of the United States, and the 
laws made in pursuance thereof, on application of the Legislature or 
Executive of the State where such force is to be used; and so much of all 
laws as is inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed. 

This bill likewise met with the President's prompt disapproval, 
in a veto message of May 12.^ Avowing "the opinion that any 
military interference whatever at the polls is contrary to the 
spirit of our institutions," declaring that "no soldiers either of 
the Union or of a State should be present at the polls" for ordi- 
nary police duty (a rule of which there had been and would be no 
violation under his Administration), the President still saw in 
this bill "a dangerous departure from long-settled and important 
constitutional principles." The sweeping "prohibition against 
the employment of military force at the polls," except in two 

^ 'The Democrats have not been conservative or, as I think, politically wise. 
They have passed an afBrmative new measure which repeals for the day of the 
election many valuable laws. They call them war measures, and seem to think 
that as the war is ended these laws should now be mustered out. We are ready 
to muster out the soldiers, but we don't muster out the flag nor the powers of 
the law and of the Constitution which enabled us to gain the victory. We don't 
muster in again the evils that caused the war. Besides, it is for the victors to 
say what shall remain — not for the vanquished." (Diary, May 11, 1879.) 



196 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

specified cases, would " seriously impair the efficiency of the execu- 
tive department of the Government." From the very beginning 
of the Government the President had been authorized in certain 
contingencies to use military force "to enforce the faithful execu- 
tion of the laws of the United States." Now, to quote the exact 
language of the President: — 

This ancient and fundamental law has been in force from the founda- 
tion of the Government. It is now proposed to abrogate it on certain 
days and at certain places. In my judgment no fact has been produced 
which tends to show that it ought to be repealed or suspended for a 
single hour at any place in any of the States or Territories of the Union. 
All the teachings of experience in the course of our history are in favor of 
sustaining its efficiency unimpaired. On every occasion when the su- 
premacy of the Constitution has been resisted, and the perpetuity of 
our institutions imperilled, the principle of this statute, enacted by 
the fathers, has enabled the Government of the Union to maintain its 
authority and to preserve the integrity of the nation. 

At the most critical periods of our history, my predecessors in the 
executive office have relied on this great principle. It was on this prin- 
ciple that President Washington suppressed the whiskey rebellion in 
Pennsylvania in 1794. In 1806, on the same principle. President Jeffer- 
son broke up the Burr conspiracy by issuing " orders for the employment 
of such force, either of the regulars or of the militia, and by such pro- 
ceedings of the civil authorities, ... as might enable them to suppress 
effectually the further progress of the enterprise." And it was under the 
same authority that President Jackson crushed nullification in South 
Carolina, and that President Lincoln issued his call for troops to save 
the Union in 1861. On numerous other occasions of less significance, 
under probably every Administration, and certainly under the present, 
this power has been usefully exerted to enforce the laws, without objec- 
tion by any party in the country, and almost without attracting pubhc 
attention. 

The great elementary constitutional principle which was the founda- 
tion of the original statute of 1792, and which has been its essence in 
the various forms it has assumed since its first adoption, is, that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States possesses under the Constitution, in full 
measure, the power of self-protection by its own agencies, altogether 
independent of state authority, and, if need be. against the hostility of 
State Governments. It should remain embodied in our statutes, unim- 
paired, as it has been from the very origin of the Government. It should 
be regarded as hardly less valuable or less sacred than a provision of the 
Constitution itself. 

There are many other important statutes containing provisions that 
are liable to be suspended or annulled at the times and places of holding 
elections, if the bill before me should become a law. I do not undertake 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 197 

to furnish a list of them. Many of them — perhaps the most of them — 
have been set forth in the debates on this measure. They relate to 
extradition, to crimes against the election laws, to quarantine regula- 
tions, to neutrality, to Indian reservations, to the civil rights of citizens, 
and to other subjects. In regard to them all, it may be safely said, that 
the meaning and effect of this bill is to take from the general Govern- 
ment an important part of its power to enforce the laws. 

Another grave objection to the bill is its discrimination in favor of 
the state and against the national authority. The presence or employ- 
ment of the army or navy of the United States is lawful under the terms 
of this bill at the place where an election is being held in a State to up- 
hold the authority of a State Government then and there in need of such 
military intervention, but unlawful to uphold the authority of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States then and there in need of such military 
intervention. Under this bill the presence and employment of the army 
or navy of the United States would be lawful, and might be necessary 
to maintain the conduct of a state election against the domestic violence 
that would overthrow it, but would be unlawful to maintain the conduct 
of a national election against the same local violence that would over- 
throw it. This discrimination has never been attempted in any previous 
legislation by Congress, and is no more compatible with sound principles 
of the Constitution or the necessary maxims and methods of our system 
of government on occasions of elections than at other times. . . . 

Under the sweeping terms of the bill, the National Government is 
effectually shut out from the exercise of the right, and from the discharge 
of the imperative duty, to use its whole executive power whenever and 
wherever required for the enforcement of its laws at the places and 
times where and when its elections are held. The employment of its 
organized armed forces for any such purpose would be an offense against 
the law unless called for by, and therefore upon permission of, the au- 
thorities of the State in which the occasion arises. What is this but the 
substitution of the discretion of the State Governments for the discre- 
tion of the Government of the United States as to the performance of 
its own duties? In my judgment, this is an abandonment of its 
obligations by the National Government — a subordination of national 
authority, and an intrusion of state supervision over national duties, 
which amounts, in spirit and tendency, to state supremacy. 

Though I believe that the existing statutes are abundantly adequate 
to completely prevent military interference with the elections, in the 
sense in which the phrase is used in the title of this bill and is employed 
by the people of this country, I shall find no difficulty in concurring in 
any additional legislation limited to that object which does not inter- 
fere with the indispensable exercise of the powers of the Government 
under the Constitution and laws. 

Meanwhile, debate was proceeding on the legislative, execu- 
tive, and judicial bill with its political riders. The Democrats 



198 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

had receded from their original extreme position. They no longer 
demanded the complete abrogation of the federal election law; 
thus acknowledging the constitutionality of such legislation. 
What they sought now was so to modify its terms as to divest it 
of vigor and efficiency. Federal supervision was to remain, but 
its function was reduced to mere observation and report. Mr. 
Hayes was firmly convinced that the law as it existed should be 
strengthened and not weakened.^ He had indicated to Congress 
his willingness to sanction any amendments to the law that should 
make its operation simpler, more economical, and less liable to 
partisan manipulation. He could not approve changes that 
were equivalent to complete emasculation of its purpose, and so 
declared himself in a veto message of May 29. "If this bill is 
approved," he said, "only the shadow of the authority of the 
United States at the national elections will remain — the sub- 
stance will be gone. The supervision of the elections will be re- 
duced to a mere inspection, without authority on the part of the 
supervisors to do any act whatever to make the election a fair 
one. All that will be left to the supervisors is the permission to 
have such oversight of the elections as political parties are in 
the habit of exercising without any authority of law, in order to 
prevent their opponents from obtaining unfair advantages. The 
object of the bill is to destroy any control whatever by the 
United States over the congressional elections." 

He showed the constitutional authority for federal election 
laws, restated the reasons which had led to their enactment, 
chief of which was frauds in New York City, and reached the 
conclusion and climax of his message in these words : — 

This bill recognizes the authority and duty of the United States to 
appoint supervisors to guard and scrutinize the congressional elections, 

^ "My veto [of May 12] has been well received. I am congratulated by Sena- 
tors and Representatives, and by people of all sorts. I am glad to have had an 
opportunity to do something for the true principles of the Constitution. My 
first veto maintained the prerogatives of the Executive, and the separate and 
independent authority of each branch of it against the grasping ambition of the 
House of Representatives. The second maintained the right of the executive 
branch to exercise power enough to enforce the laws, and now I am likely on the 
civil — the legislative, judicial, and executive — appropriation bill, with its 
rider repealing the election laws, to have an opportunity to do something for 
purity and fairness in elections." (Diary, May 15.) 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 199 

but it denies to the Government of the United States all power to make 
its supervision effectual. The great body of the people of all parties 
want free and fair elections. They do not think that a free election 
means freedom from the wholesome restraints of law, or that the place 
of an election should be a sanctuary for lawlessness and crime. On the 
day of an election peace and good order are more necessary than on any 
other day of the year. On that day the humblest and feeblest citizens, 
the aged and the infirm, should be, and should have reason to feel that 
they are, safe in the exercise of their most responsible duty, and their 
most sacred right as members of society, their duty and their right to 
vote. The constitutional authority to regulate the congressional elec- 
tions which belongs to the Government of the United States, and which 
it is necessary to exert to secure the right to vote to every citizen pos- 
sessing the requisite qualifications, ought to be enforced by appropriate 
legislation. So far from pubhc opinion in any part of the country favor- 
ing any relaxation of the authority of the Government in the protection 
of elections from violence and corruption, I believe it demands greater 
vigor, both in the enactment and in the execution of laws framed for 
that purpose. Any oppression, any partisan partiality, which experi- 
ence may have shown in the working of existing laws, may well engage 
the careful attention both of Congress and of the Executive, in their 
respective spheres of duty, for the correction of these mischiefs. As no 
congressional elections occur until after the regular session of Congress 
will have been held, there seems to be no public exigency that would 
preclude a seasonable consideration at that session of any administrative 
details that might improve the present methods designed for the protec- 
tion of all citizens in the complete and equal exercise of the right and 
power of the suffrage at such elections. But with my views, both of the 
constitutionality and of the value of the existing laws, I cannot approve 
any measure for their repeal except in connection with the enactment 
of other legislation which may reasonably be expected to afford wiser 
and more eflacient safeguards for free and honest congressional elec- 
tions. 

The Democrats were growing weary of the contest. The im- 
patience and criticisms of the country could not fail to influence 
their temper. Nor could they fail to perceive that the opportu- 
nity they had afforded to the President and the way he had met 
it had immensely increased his popularity and given the Repub- 
licans new coherence and aggressiveness. They did not have the 
courage to carry out — if they ever really intended to do so — 
the plan of refusing appropriations unless they could have their 
way. They were convinced that the President would not yield 
and that the better sentiment of the country was behind him. 
Now their problem was to find some way to act that should not 



800 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

appear to be a complete backdown.^ They spent the rest of the 
special session in trying to "save their face." First, they passed 
the army appropriation bill without its objectionable rider, being 
obliged to content themselves with an innocuous and practically 
meaningless proviso forbidding the use of the army as a pohce 
force at the polls. This received the President's prompt ap- 
proval. Then they divided the legislative, executive, and judicial 
bill into two measures. The first made appropriations for the 
legislative and executive expenses of the Government in the 
regular form. This was passed and became a law. The second 
made appropriations for the judicial department. To this were 
attached riders repealing the jurors' test-oath law, and forbidding 
the use of any of the money appropriated in executing the fed- 
eral election law.^ Mr. McMahon, in reporting the bill from the 

^ "It is now reported that the Joint Democratic Caucus Committee has 
agreed on a plan of operations with regard to the deadlock. It is in effect a back- 
down. But it does relieve the party to some extent from its awkward predica- 
ment. It may in some of its features be quite as objectionable as former measures. 
This will depend on details which I must carefully examine. . . . 

"I probably could not veto a bill merely because it fails to make all the ap- 
propriations which are required. I should not oppose a bill which contains noth- 
ing but what is right. If it is not enough, and the omission is important, I may 
call a special session to supply the deficiency. But if their new bills deprive by 
prohibition the Executive of authority which belongs to him by existing laws 
or constitutional provisions, it will require a veto." (Diary, June 2, 1879.) 

"The Democrats, instead of squarely backing out of their awkward posi- 
tion or manfully sticking to it, seem disposed to creep out of it in a way to en- 
able them to say that they have gained something by their contest. They can't 
repeal the laws they object to. They therefore propose to cripple the Govern- 
ment in its efforts to enforce them — to make it impossible to enforce them — 
to make it unlawful to enforce them. The laws remain unrepealed. The Demo- 
cratic plan is to prevent their enforcement." (Diary, June 4, 1879.) 

* "The judicial bill is the only one I have any doubt about. It leaves the elec- 
tion laws without the means for their enforcement. If that was all, there would 
be no ground for a veto. Perhaps it goes further. I must look into it. It pro- 
hibits any officer or any department from incurring any obligation or contracting 
any liability. This is intended to nullify the law, leaving it unrepealed. Does it 
have that effect.' May I direct the marshals to appoint deputies, notwithstand- 
ing this provision? May the courts appoint supervisors? May these officers act? 
If not, it amounts to a repeal of the law. 

"No duty devolving on Congress is plainer than the duty to provide the 
necessary means by suitable appropriations for the enforcement of the laws. Title 
20 is in force. It provides that — it makes it the duty of — certain officers to 
make appointments of deputy marshals and supervisors. The duties of these 
officers remain. By this bill it is provided that they shall not be performed. Their 
performance involves the liability of the United States to pay such officers. All 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 201 

Committee on Appropriations, frankly stated that the purpose 
of this prohibition was "to prevent the enforcement of the super- 
visors and deputy -marshals clauses of the Revised Statutes." 
Mr. Hayes could no more sanction the annulment of the federal 
election laws by indirection than by repeal.^ He could not ap- 
prove a bill which made it impossible for him to execute laws 
which he had sworn to execute. His veto message (June 23) 
declared his position wdth convincing clearness : — 

Under the existing laws, the failure of Congress to make the appro- 
priations required for the execution of the provisions of the election 
laws would not prevent their enforcement. The right and duty to ap- 
point the general and special deputy marshals which they provide for 
would still remain, and the executive department of the Government 
would also be empowered to incur the requisite liability for their com- 
pensation. But the second section of this bill contains a prohibition not 
found in any previous legislation. Its design is to render the election 
laws inoperative and a dead letter during the next fiscal year. It is 

officers and each department are forbidden to do this. It is tantamount to a 
repeal of the law for this year. 

"The execution of the law is required during the next fiscal year in but a few 
districts and is of comparatively small importance. But it is wrong in principle." 
(Diary, June 11, 1879.) 

1 " The congressional contest with the Executive is near its end for the present. 
The legislative bill is in such a shape that I can sign it without a question. The 
bill is awkwardly framed, but there is no objection to the appropriations which 
it contains; it can be executed, and the fact that proper appropriations are 
omitted is not a ground for a veto. The army bill is supported by the great 
majority of the Republicans in Congress, by the Republican press, and by the 
Administration. It contains a clause which prevents the army from being used 
as a police force at the polls. The rule as to the use of the militarj* at elections 
was stated by me in the veto message on the army bill. The doctrine there laid 
down has been received as sound by the Republicans of the country, and I think 
also by Democrats generally who are not blinded by the partisan excitement of 
the time. It is the business of 'the police,' the civil authorities, to make arrests 
of the disorderly and of repeaters and of others guilty of violating the election 
laws at the polls. They will thus keep the peace at the elections. The marshals 
are authorized to appoint deputies enough with ample authority to do this under 
ordinary circumstances. If these civil authorities are unable to do this the mili- 
tarj' will aid them in all cases — not at all as a police, but as part of the military 
power of the country. They may be used whenever it is necessary to enforce the 
laws. That is to say, whenever the opposition to their enforcement is too power- 
ful for the ordinary police or other civil officers to overcome, the military may 
be employed to suppress such opposition. This was the law when Congress met. 
It is the law now. It has not been changed. Before the assembling of the extra 
session my views were correctly published in the Republican [March 11] of this 
city. The action taken since by me is in strict conformity with that publication." 
(Diary, June 20.) 



202 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

sought to accomplish this by omitting to appropriate money for their 
enforcement, and by expressly prohibiting any department or officer 
of the Government from incurring any liability under any of the provi- 
sions of title twenty-six of the Revised Statutes authorizing the appoint- 
ment or payment of general or special deputy marshals for service on 
election days, until an appropriation sufficient to pay such liabiUty 
shall have first been made. 

The President is called upon to give his affirmative approval to posi- 
tive enactments which in effect deprive him of the ordinary and neces- 
sary means of executing laws still left in the statute-book, and embraced 
within his constitutional duty to see that the laws are executed. If he 
approves the bill, and thus gives to such positive enactments the au- 
thority of law, he participates in the curtailment of his means of seeing 
that the law is faithfully executed while the obligation of the law and of 
his constitutional duty remains unimpaired. 

The appointment of special deputy marshals is not made by the 
statute a spontaneous act of authority on the part of any executive or 
judicial officer of the Government, but is accorded as a popular right of 
the citizens to call into operation this agency for securing the purity and 
freedom of elections in any city or town having twenty thousand inhab- 
itants or upward. Section 2021 of the Revised Statutes puts it in the 
power of any two citizens of such city or town to require of the marshal 
of the district the appointment of these special deputy marshals. There- 
upon the duty of the marshal becomes imperative, and its non-perform- 
ance would expose him to judicial mandate or punishment, or to re- 
moval from office by the President, as the circumstances of his conduct 
might require. The bill now before me neither revokes this popular 
right of the citizens nor relieves the marshal of the duty imposed by law, 
nor the President of his duty to see that this law is faithfully executed. 

I forbear to enter again upon any general discussion of the wisdom 
and necessity of the election laws, or of the dangerous and unconstitu- 
tional principle of this bill, that the power vested in Congress to origi- 
nate appropriations involves the right to compel the Executive to ap- 
prove any legislation which Congress may see fit to attach to such bills, 
under the penalty of refusing the means needed to carry on essential 
functions of the Government. My views on these subjects have been 
sufficiently presented in the special messages sent by me to the House of 
Representatives during their present session. What was said in those 
messages I regard as conclusive as to my duty in respect to the bill })efore 
me. The arguments urged in those communications against the repeal 
of the election laws, and against the right of Congress to deprive the 
Executive of that separate and independent discretion and judgment 
which the Constitution confers and requires, are equally cogent in oppo- 
sition to this bill. This measure leaves the powers and duties of the 
supervisors of elections untouched. The compensation of those officers 
is provided for under permanent laws, and no liability for which an 
appropriation is now required would, therefore, be incurred by their 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 203 

appointment. But the power of the National Government to protect 
them in the discharge of their duty at the polls would be taken away. 
The States may employ both civil and military power at the elections, 
but by this bill even the civil authority to protect the congressional 
elections is denied to the United States. The object is to prevent any 
adequate control by the United States over the national elections by 
forbidding the payment of deputy marshals, the officers who are clothed 
with authority to enforce the election laws. 

The fact that these laws are deemed objectionable by a majority of 
both houses of Congress is urged as a sufficient warrant for this legis- 
lation. 

There are two lawful ways to overturn legislative enactments : One is 
their repeal; the other is the decision of a competent tribunal against 
their validity. The effect of this bill is to deprive the executive depart- 
ment of the Government of the means to execute laws which are not 
repealed, which have not been declared invalid, and which it is, there- 
fore, the duty of the executive and of every other department of the 
Government to obey and to enforce. 

I have, in my former message on this subject, expressed a wilUngness 
to concur in suitable amendments for the improvement of the election 
laws; but I cannot consent to their absolute and entire repeal, and I 
cannot approve legislation which seeks to prevent their enforcement. 

Thereupon a bill was passed and approved providing for all 
the expenses of the judicial department except for the payment of 
the fees of United States marshals and their deputies.^ Provision 
for the latter was made in a separate bill in which was embodied 
the same prohibition that had caused the veto, June 23, of the 
general judicial bill.^ The President at once (June 30) returned it 
to Congress with his disapproval, emphasizing the importance 
of the duties of marshals and briefly restating the reasons for his 
action. He urged in conclusion : — 

1 The bill contained also a repeal of the jurors' test oath, which practically 
all parties favored; and a provision for non-partisan juries. 

^ " My fourth veto message at the present session was sent to the House Mon- 
day. It seems to be well received by party friends and has certainly thrown our 
adversaries into the greatest confusion. In a vote yesterday in the House our 
side, on the question of adjournment without appropriations, had a majority of 
22! Seventeen Democrats and all of the Greenbackers united with our friends. 

"Judge Thurman has backed out of his 'vast question' doctrine, and is one 
of the most urgent advocates of appropriations without any riders! It is not yet 
decided, after several caucuses, what to do. But the probability seems to be 
that the Democrats will pass a judicial expenses [bill] without the objectionable 
section — the second section, and also without any provision for marshals or 
their deputies. Another bill for the marshals, with the objectionable rider at- 
tached, will also be sent to me." (Diary, June 25, 1879.) 



204 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The object manifestly is to place before the Executive this alterna- 
tive: Either to allow necessary functions of the public service to be 
crippled or suspended for want of the appropriations required to keep 
them in operation, or to approve legislation which in official communica- 
tions to Congress he has declared would be a violation of his constitu- 
tional duty. Thus, in this bill the principle is clearly embodied that, by 
virtue of the provision of the Constitution which requires that "all bills 
for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives," a 
bare majority of the House of Representatives has the right to withliold 
appropriations for the support of the Government unless the Executive 
consents to approve any legislation which may be attached to appropria- 
tion bills. I respectfully refer to the communications on this subject 
which I have sent to Congress during its present session for a statement 
of the grounds of my conclusions, and desire here merely to repeat that, 
in my judgment, to establish the principle of this bill is to make a 
radical, dangerous, and unconstitutional change in the character of our 
institutions. 

Along with this veto message the President sent a special 
message to Congress urging "the immediate necessity of making 
some adequate provision" for the payment of marshals. "All 
appropriations," he reminded Congress, "to provide for the 
performance of these indispensable duties expires to-day"; and 
he added: — 

It is impossible for me to look without grave concern upon a state 
of things which will leave the public service thus unprovided for and 
the public interests thus unprotected, and I earnestly urge upon your 
attention the necessity of making immediate appropriations for the 
maintenance of the service of the marshals and deputy marshals for 
the fiscal year which commences to-morrow. 

But Congress refused to act and adjourned on the following 
day. The Democrats, who had started out in March with the 
boast that they would wipe all the federal election laws off the 
statute-book or block the wheels of government, had been forced, 
by the President's firmness and by indignant public opinion, to 
recede, step by step, in their efforts to make political capital out 
of the unnecessary special session they had imposed on the coun- 
try, till when they returned to their homes in July they had 
nothing to show for all their labors but the refusal to appropriate 
a few hundred thousand dollars to pay marshals' fees.^ Verily, 

1 "Was there ever anything more ridiculous? They began by saying to the 
President, 'Sign our political measures or we will withhold $46,000,000 of the 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 205 

the mountain had labored and had brought forth according to 
the proverb. The President thought it hardly worth while to call 
Congress together again to supply the deficiency it had deliber- 
ately created. Embarrassing as the situation was to them, the 
marshals and their deputies continued to perform their duties, 
trusting to the future for their pay. And their trust was not 
in vain.^ 

The President emerged from the long contest bearing all the 
honors of the successful maintenance unimpaired of the executive 
prerogatives, and of the vindication of the right of the Federal 
Government to exercise plenary power in the execution of its 
own laws. 2 Throughout the controversy, however rancorous the 

appropriations for running the Government.' 'That does not frighten me,' 
replied the President; ' I shall go ahead and do my duty just the same.' 'Very 
well,' said the Democrats, 'if that's your intention we will keep back 
$20,000,000.' Finding the President still unmoved, they cried out, 'If you don't 
back down, we will refuse you $10,000,000.' As this threat had no effect, they 
finally held back $600,000 and ran away. It was a remarkably well-developed 
case of the small end of the horn." (Secretary Evarts, in New York Tribune, 
July 5, 1879.) 

1 Proper provision was made for the marshals and their deputies at the next 
session of Congress. There was a prolonged debate again over the propriety of 
federal election laws, and the Democratic majority first tacked a rider to the 
appropriation bill modifying the law affecting the special deputy marshals. This 
the President vetoed May 4, 1880, saying: "I am firmly convinced that appro- 
priation bills ought not to contain any legislation not relevant to the application 
or expenditure of the money thereby appropriated, and that by a strict adher- 
ence to this principle an important and much-needed reform will be accomplished. 
Placing my objection to the bill on this feature of its frame, I forbear any com- 
ment upon the important general and permanent legislation which it contains, 
as matter for specific and independent consideration." Thereupon Congress 
granted the appropriation without conditions. 

^ "The President has, it is generally admitted, been the greatest and perhaps 
the only real gainer by the tedious extra session. It has only made him a force 
in his party. The Administration has become in the last three months the head 
of the party, and though there are still vigorous malcontents like Blaine and 
Conkling, who stir up a perpetual revolt against the President they put into the 
White House, Mr. Hayes has now the great body of Republican Representa- 
tives standing by him. . . . There is a growing impression among the Republi- 
cans that Mr. Hayes is a remarkably cool hand; patient, wary, not capable of 
getting scared, a shrewd and long-headed politician, and a far wiser and safer 
party leader than the irate Senators who have vainly battled against him so 
often." (Special correspondence, Washington, of New York Herald, dated July 
3, 1879.) 

"A shrewd observer in Washington said, at the adjournment of Congress, 
that the President had been the only gainer by the extra session, and it is un- 
doubtedly true that his clear and terse veto messages, temperately stating the 



206 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

partisan debate in Congress and press became, he preserved un- 
ruffled dignity of demeanor and equability of temper. While his 
veto messages presented his views with utmost plainness of 
speech and directness of argument, they were free from bitter- 
ness, or aspersion of motives, or denunciation, being addressed 
to the reason and not to the passions of men. At no other time 
during his career was Mr. Hayes the recipient of so great popular 
acclaim and applause. All the forces of his party were for a time, 
if not enthusiastic, at least cordial, in supporting and commend- 
ing him. The more intelligent of the Democratic papers, like the 
LouisviUe Courier- Journal, recognized the blundering tactics of 
the Democratic congressional leaders, and saw that these had 
resulted, not, as had been hoped, in giving the party an issue, 
but in uniting the Republican party and in strengthening the 
President's hold upon the conservative opinion of the country.^ 
It is no wonder that INIr. Hayes felt deep satisfaction, even ela- 
tion of spirit, when two days after the adjournment (July 3) he 
reviewed in his diary the accomplishment of the special session : — 

I am now experiencing one of the "wps" of political life. Congress 
adjourned on the 1st after a session of almost seventy-five days mainly 

position of the Republican party in the pending debate, have greatly enlightened 
the public mind, have been of the utmost service to the party, and have deep- 
ened the general regard for the Administration. . . . The extra session is hardly 
to be regretted, since it has turned public attention to questions so fundamental, 
and has given opportunity for so admirable a defense of the sound American and 
Republican principles as those which the President has maintained." (George 
William Curtis, Harpers Weekly, July 26, 1879.) 

1 The Republicans were successful all over the North in the state elections of 
the following November, much to the gratification of the President, who felt 
that his course had been popularly approved. In his diary (November 5) he 
wrote: "The Republican victory yesterday was complete everywhere in the 
North except in New York. In New York we carry the Legislature. This secures 
the election of a Republican Senator in the place of Kernan. We also elect the 
Governor by reason of the bolting of the Tammany Democrats who refused to 
support the nominee of Mr. Tildcn — Governor Robinson — and voted gener- 
ally for Kelly. The remainder of the Republican state ticket is, I fear, beaten. 
[Later returns showed the election of the rest of the Republican state ticket, with 
a single exception, by very small pluralities.] Our full force was not at the polls. 
Many state Republicans opposed to machine politics were disgusted by the Conk- 
ling control of the convention, and the nomination of Mr. Cornell. I did all I 
could to save the cause by urging friends to lay aside their opposition. But there 
was too much Conkling in the ticket. . . . The defeat of Governor Robinson is 
the defeat of Tilden, and foreshadows his overthrow next year, either in the 
Democratic National Convention or at the polls." 



THE CONTEST WITH CONGRESS 207 

taken up with a contest against me. Five vetoes, a number of special 
messages and oral consultations with friends and opponents have been 
my part of it. At no time — not even after the nomination at Cincin- 
nati — has the stream of commendation run so full.^ The great newspa- 
pers, and the little, have been equally profuse of flattery. Of course it 
will not last. But I think I have the confidence of the country. When 
the Tribune can say, "The President has the courtesy of a Chesterfield 
and the firmness of a Jackson " (!), I must be prepared for the reaction- 
ary counterblast. 

My convictions have been adhered to equally against party friends 
and foes. Party friends have insisted that I ought to extend the veto (1) 
to the repeal of the test oaths; (2) to the jury clauses which provide for 
men of opposite parties as ofiicers to prepare the lists from which juries 
are to be drawn; and (3) to the clauses against the use of the army "as 
a police" at the polls. But I steadily resisted, and in the end have, I 
think, vindicated the power of the National Government over congres- 
sional elections, and the separate authority of the executive department 
of the Government. 

Inasmuch as I stood firmly and successfully against the dictation of 
my own party leaders in the Senate, I have a feeling that the applause 
given to the firmness exhibited against the pretensions of the adversary 
as to the powers of a bare majority of Congress, is not altogether un- 
reasonable. 

^ As an indication of the sort of commendatory messages that came to the 
President innumerably, after each veto message and at the end of the session, 
the following excerpt from a letter written by Ben. Eutterworth (Cincinnati, 
May 14, 1879) may be cited: "Our people here read your last message and Amen 
say they all. Nor does this approval come from Republicans alone, but from the 
patriotic conservative Democrats as well. . . . There is but one voice and that 
is in praise of your ofBcial course, and is coupled with the earnest hope that you 
will stand firm. The country is tcith yov, — and the war Democrats openly de- 
nounce the course of Congress. Your position touching the supremacy of the 
nation is approved by all Republicans and a large portion of the Democratic 
party. You have kept the faith. God grant you may be guided in the right way 
in the future as in the past. The eyes of the country are upon you. The prayers 
of the pure and patriotic are for you. I believe it will be given to you to see the 
right in every contingency. I feel that this is so, for the Republic is in his care, 
and as I study your ofEcial course I am impressed that for the work you are 
doing you were called by an influence that too many know little of. His hand is 
in it. Pardon me for saying this much on the subject that is nearest my heart — 
the good of my country." 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

FOREIGN RELATIONS — INDIAN POLICY, ETC. 

FEW subjects of large importance in the foreign relations of 
the Government demanded action or attention during the 
Administration of Mr. Hayes. For the most part all our dealings 
with foreign countries were amicable and were conducted without 
feeling or friction. There was much popular indignation, how- 
ever, in the first year of Mr. Hayes's term when the Halifax fish- 
ery award was announced. The commission, provided for by the 
previous Administration to arbitrate the British demands for 
recompense for fishing privileges m Canadian waters, granted to 
Great Britain the sum of $5,500,000. This amount was felt by 
America to be grossly disproportionate to the actual benefits that 
American fishermen had enjoyed for the years m dispute. Exam- 
ination of the facts in the case, long after the controversy passed, 
has convinced candid students that the feeling was entirely just. 
But having submitted the matter to arbitration, Mr. Hayes and 
the Cabinet felt that the Government was in duty bound to 
accept the judgment of the commission, however unjust, unless 
the British Government should be willing to allow a reconsidera- 
tion of the case. Mr. Evarts made a respectful but vigorous and 
impressive statement to the British Government of the American 
contention. That Government refused to reopen the controversy, 
and the sum awarded was duly appropriated by Congress and 
paid within the time specified, though under protest. Probably 
no American that dispassionately informs himself m regard to 
the dispute and the commission's action either doubts that sub- 
stantial injustice was done to this country by the award or fails 
to acknowledge that this Government acted with large wisdom m 
submitting to it. 

Of more pressing interest were the strained relations that 
existed for some time with the neighboring Republic of Mexico. 
For many years that country had been torn with civil dissen- 
sions. A chronic condition of revolution seemed to be its normal 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 209 

state. From the sparsely settled regions of the States along the 
northern frontier, remote and difficult of access from the capital, 
bands of marauders, many of them Indians, had for years been 
making incursions across the Rio Grande into Texas, harrying 
the ranches of the cattle-men and driving off their herds across 
the river. The Mexican national authorities were unwilling or 
unable to prevent these wrongs or to make reparation therefor; 
and the local authorities were evidently in more or less open co- 
operation or sympathy with the international bandits. General 
Porfirio Diaz by a successful revolution in 1876 had placed him- 
self at the head of the Mexican Government. He had not yet 
been recognized by this Government, and he made no effort to 
improve conditions along the border. Finally, on the report by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Shafter of continued depredations by Mexi- 
cans, the President and his Cabinet were convinced that vigorous 
measures should be adopted. Consequently orders were issued 
June 1, 1877, to General Ord, commanding in Texas, directing 
him, at his discretion, to follow marauders across the Rio Grande 
"and overtake and punish them as well as retake stolen prop- 
erty." This order was indignantly resented by the IVIexicans, in 
manifold grandiloquent pronunciamentos, as authorizing a war- 
like invasion of their territory. But, even while protesting that 
Mexico would meet force with force. General Diaz sent a Cabinet 
Minister and troops to the northern border and an amicable 
arrangement was made for cooperation with General Ord in 
protecting the frontier. 

Meanwhile, the American newspapers were making the border 
difficulties and the order to General Ord the news sensation of 
the day. The President was applauded, on the one hand, for 
his vigorous policy to end a condition which had too long been 
allowed to continue. On the other hand, he was criticized for 
overstepping the bounds of his authority, violating treaty rights, 
and making virtual war upon an impotent friendly power. It was 
even widely charged that the Administration was actuated by a 
deep and malevolent purpose to provoke war with Mexico in 
order to divert attention from domestic problems and to bring 
about the annexation to this country of several of the northern 
States of Mexico. It made no difference that any such purpose 
was disavowed by the Administration. The wiseacres were not 



210 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAl^S 

to be convinced against their own intuitive knowledge. Senator 
Blaine, still smarting at his discomfiture regarding the Cabinet 
and displeased with the President's settlement of the Southern 
problem, precipitately championed this view in a speech on the 
Fourth of July at Woodstock, Connecticut, professing himself 
greatly alarmed at the possibilities of the President's policy. "As 
a comforting and consolatory addendum to the whole scheme," 
he declared, "we are kindly assured that in no event shall any 
Mexican territory be acquired or annexed to the United States. 
As in many cases of similar design and movement, the most im- 
portant feature may be that which is specially disavowed," The 
buzz of comment that this sinister utterance incited was short- 
lived. The President instantly declared he had never been accus- 
tomed to that way of dealing with individuals or with public 
questions and did not think he should begin now. "There is 
nothing secret or underhand in the Mexican policy," he said. 
"The Administration found that Mexico is not able to keep back 
her thieves and bandits from crossing the Rio Grande and killing 
and robbing our citizens. At all events, Mexico has failed to do 
so. It is the duty of this Government to protect its citizens 
against these raids." And Secretary Evarts dismissed the inti- 
mation of duplicity with the laughing remark that he was in the 
habit of telling the truth on all occasions, and was thus enabled 
to conceal his sentiments completely from people who were con- 
tinually expecting diplomatic deceptions from him. 

The Administration pursued its policy in serene unconcern 
of hostile criticism. During the next few months American troops 
on several occasions crossed the Rio Grande and inflicted con- 
dign punishment on fleeing brigands. Assurances by the Ameri- 
can Minister at the City of Mexico that this action of our soldiers 
had no ulterior purpose or design, but was only incident to the 
necessary protection of our own people against lawless adven- 
turers whom the Mexicans themselves could not keep in check, 
somewhat appeased the flamboyant indignation of the JMexican 
paitriots, though their Government never ceased to protest 
against our Government's action. Gradually the persistent activ- 
ity of our soldiers created wholesome dread in the breasts of the 
marauders, and as President Diaz became better established in 
power, more efficient police control was exercised by the Mexicans 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 211 

along the border. But not until the last year of his Adminis- 
tration did President Hayes become convinced that conditions 
justified the rescinding of the obnoxious but efficacious order to 
General Ord. The whole effect of the policy had been of immense 
service in establishing order and security along the frontier and 
in lessening the causes of friction between the two countries. 

Meanwhile, the anti-Chinese agitation on the Pacific Coast 
entered an acute stage. For years the feeling had been growing, 
especially in the more densely peopled portions of California, 
that unrestricted immigration of Chinese would prove detrimen- 
tal to the best interests of America. Industrious, frugal, and 
orderly though the Chinese were, yet they were so alien in their 
morals and mode of life, so impossible of assimilation and absorp- 
tion, that racial antagonism was sure to be aroused. No real 
sympathy or mutual understanding, indeed, was practicable 
between the masses of the two races. Popular animosity against 
the Chinese was constantly aggravated by labor leaders and 
political agitators, chief among whom was Dennis Kearney, 
whose violent speeches in the "Sand Lots" did much to inflame 
the public mind. The newspaper press contributed its share to 
the agitation, discussing the subject from every standpoint of 
reasonable argument or unreasoning prejudice. Both political 
parties in California, in their state platforms, had demanded a 
modification of the existing treaty with China by which the influx 
of Chinese should be checked or entirely stopped. And the Cali- 
fornia Constitutional Convention, sitting in the early months of 
1879, proposed to adopt severe repressive measures. Moreover, 
the anti-Chinese agitation of the Pacific Coast had made a 
marked impression upon the sentiment of the whole country, 
bringing the people generally to the conclusion that a miiltitu- 
dinous incursion of a race so different in culture, morals, and re- 
ligion as the Chinese would be fraught with peril to our institu- 
tions and our civilization. Some men, to be sure, like the eminent 
Wilham Lloyd Garrison and Henry Ward Beecher, pleaded elo- 
quently for the continuance unimpaired of the historic American 
policy, that of offering a welcome asylum to the oppressed and 
down-trodden of every race and clime. But they were a very 
small minority. x\lmost universally it was felt that the country 



212 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

should be preserved as the abode of men of European race or 
strain, where a Christian civilization and republican institutions 
should flourish, uncontaminated by Asiatic ideals or customs. 

California had sought by state legislation to restrict immi- 
gration, but its enactment had been declared unconstitutional. 
Then appeals and petitions had been presented to Congress urg- 
ing it to afford the State relief. The Forty -fourth Congress so far 
heeded these requests as to adopt joint resolutions asking the 
President to "open negotiations with the Chinese Government 
for the purpose of modifying the provisions of the treaty between 
the two countries." But nothing came of this action. Then this 
same Congress in 1876 sent a joint committee, of which Senator 
Morton was chairman, to the Pacific Coast to make a thorough 
investigation of the whole subject of Chinese immigration and to 
report its conclusions. The subject also received attention that 
year in the national platforms of both parties; the Republicans 
declaring it to be " the immediate duty of Congress to fully inves- 
tigate the effect of the immigration and importation of Mongo- 
lians upon the moral and material interest of the country"; the 
Democrats denouncing the diplomatic policy which had "ex- 
posed our brethren of the Pacific Coast to the incursions of a race 
not sprung from the same great parent stock," and demanding 
" such modification of the treaty with the Chinese Empire, or such 
legislation within constitutional limitations, as shall prevent 
further importation or immigration of the Mongolian race." 

The majority report of the joint committee of investigation 
urged upon the executive department the necessity of obtaining 
an immediate change of the Burlingame Treaty so as to enable 
the country to restrict or prevent further Chinese immigration; 
and the Forty -fifth Congress promptly passed a joint resolution 
to similar purpose. But the people of the Pacific Coast were im- 
patient at the slow processes of diplomatic negotiation, and the 
political leaders of both parties in California were eager for more 
summary' action. They had the notion that whichever party 
proved itseff the more zealous against Chinese immigration would 
have the better chance of carrying California in the state election 
of 1879 and in the Presidential election of the following year. 
The California Congressmen were able to impress their views on 
the majority of their colleagues and to prevail on them in the 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 213 

closing weeks of the Forty-fifth Congress to attempt by congres- 
sional action to bring about a virtual abrogation of the treaty 
with China. Under the treaty the Chinese had the right of free 
access to our shores. The bill now presented to Congress pro- 
posed to nullify this right by forbidding any shipmaster to bring 
more than fifteen Chinese at any one time to America. It also 
directed the President to serve immediate notice on the Chinese 
Government of the abrogation of articles 5 and 6 of the Burlin- 
game Treaty — the articles recognizing " the inherent and inalien- 
able right of man to change his home and allegiance," and pro- 
viding for the protection by each country of the natives of the 
other resident therein — as though repudiation of a part of a 
treaty by one of the parties thereto were not tantamount to its 
complete abrogation. The friends of the measure contended that 
it was entirely within the right of CongTess thus to annul or to 
modify a treaty. But even if that was conceded — and it was 
widely disputed except in cases of gravest emergency — the 
better sense of the country was in accord with Senator Hamlin in 
regarding it as an unmannerly proceeding; as, indeed, if not an 
actual breach of international good faith, a most discourteous or 
even insulting mode of action; such as would never be thought 
of in connection with any treaty with a European nation. The 
majority in both houses of Congress, however, remained unaf- 
fected by such considerations, plain though it was from the al- 
most universal voice of the press, except in the Far West, that 
the public opinion of the country, while recognizing the wisdom 
and necessity of restricting Chinese immigration, condemned the 
unceremonious violation by Congress of a treaty of our own 
seeking. Eminent leaders of both parties in Congress championed 
the measure and defended its propriety. Conspicuous among the 
number was Mr. Blaine, thinking, no doubt, of the possibilities 
of the next year's Presidential election. President Hayes fol- 
lowed the debate in Congress with close attention. He was con- 
vinced, as he wrote in his diary (February 20, 1879), 'that the 
present Chinese labor invasion (it was not in any proper sense 
immigration — women and children did not come) was pernicious 
and should be discouraged. Our experience in dealing with the 
negroes and Indians was not encouraging. We should oppress 
the Chinamen, and their presence would make hoodlums or 



214 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

vagabonds of their oppressors. He would, therefore, consider with 
favor suitable measures to discourage the Chinese from coming 
to our owm shores. But he suspected this bill to be inconsistent 
with our treaty obligations. If it violated the national faith he 
must decline to approve it.' Three days later Mr. Hayes had no 
doubt of his duty in the premises. He writes : — 

The Chinese bill now Ukely to pass both houses — has passed both, 
but is waiting action of the House on Senate amendments — attracts 
much attention. As I see it, our treaty with China forbids me to give it 
my approval. The treaty was of our seeking. It was proposed by our 
Minister to China — Mr. Burlingarae. He became the Ambassador 
of China to this country, and in Washington negotiated it with Mr. 
Seward. It was first ratified by our Senate and sent to China for ratifi- 
cation there. It was applauded by all parts of this country. The Pacific 
Coast joined in this. It is now claimed that it has proved unsatisfactory 
and pernicious, and the bill in question seeks to prevent the mischief 
complained of by a measure which violates its most important provi- 
sions. We have accepted the advantages which the treaty gives us. Our 
traders, missionaries, and travellers are domiciled in China. Important 
interests have grown up under the treaty and rest upon faith in its 
observance. 

One of the parties to a treaty cannot rightfully by legislation violate 
it. When a question of national faith is involved we should deal with all 
nations on the same principles — footing. We should deal with China 
precisely as we would expect and wish other nations to deal with us 
under similar circumstances. . . . 

Our countrymen on the Pacific coast, with great unanimity, and with 
the utmost earnestness, desire a change in our relations with China. 
They are entitled to have, and they should have, our sympathy in this 
matter. If we could put ourselves in their places, it is absolutely certain 
that we should think and feel as they do. We should at once devise 
appropriate measures to give them assurance of relief. This can be done 
long before there is any material increase of their present diflBculties 
without any violation of the national faith, and wthout any real or 
substantial departure from our traditional policy on the subject of 
immigration. 

Mr. Hayes embodied these views in a brief and forceful 
veto message.^ He had hardly completed its composition when 
Mr. Evarts submitted to him the draught of a message which 
presented the objections to the bill with greater detail and 

^ It would have been possible for the President, so late was the bill in reaching 
him, to prevent its becoming a law by a "pocket veto." But he was not at all 
inclined to shirk responsibility in that manner. 



! 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 215 

elaboration, but no more convincingly or vigorously. Mr, Hayes, 
without even revealing the fact that he had himself prepared 
a message, accepted Mr. Evarts's draught and made it his 
message to Congress. There is, of course, no possible objection 
to such a procedure. It has been and must be frequently fol- 
lowed by men in positions of high authority. This was, however, 
the only instance of its kind in Mr. Hayes's career. Every other 
state paper bearing his signature was of his own composition, 
Mr. Evarts w^as somewhat chagrined when some time subse- 
quently he learned that he had not, after all, anticipated the 
President. 

The veto message recalled briefly the facts about the negotia- 
tion of the original treaty with China in 1858, the mam substance 
of whose provisions was "to define and secure the rights of our 
people in respect to access to, residence and protection in, and 
trade with China." If greater rights or privileges were ever 
granted to any other nation, these should "at once enure to the 
benefit of the United States, its public officers, merchants, and 
citizens." The Burlingame Treaty of 1868, it was pointed out, 
was only supplemental to the original treaty and became a part 
of it. This supplement had principally to do with "Chinese im- 
migration and the Chinese as forming, or as they should form, a 
part of our population." The experience of the last decade, 
revealing the quality and effect of large Chinese immigration, 
might reasonably suggest to both Governments that " the simple 
provisions of the Burlingame Treaty may need to be replaced 
by more careful methods, securing the Chinese and ourselves 
against a larger and more rapid infusion of this foreign race than 
our system of industry and society can take up and assimilate 
with ease and safety." But surely the conditions were not such 
as to demand the peremptory termination of the treaty by act of 
Congress. Only "some reason both of the highest justice and of 
the highest necessity" would justify such procedure. This was 
strongly illustrated by the single instance in oar history of such 
action, when in 1798 Congress had declared the treaties with 
France abrogated because, as the preamble of the act recited, 
these treaties had "been repeatedly violated on the part of the 
French Government," reparation for injuries had been refused, 
and efforts on our part to "negotiate an amicable adjustment" 



216 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

had been " repelled with indignity." Congress, to be sure, sought 
only the abrogation of two clauses of the treaty with China. 
But manifestly the modification of an existing treaty could only 
be made by the treaty -making power, which Congress under the 
Constitution had no right to exercise. Even more important 
than that consideration was "the principle that a denunciation 
of a part of a treaty, not made by the terms of the treaty itself 
separable from the rest, is a denunciation of the whole treaty." 
The message ended with these words: — 

I am convinced that, whatever urgency might in any quarter or by 
any interest be supposed to require an instant suppression of further 
immigration from China, no reasons can require the immediate with- 
drawal of our treaty protection of the Chinese aheady in this country, 
and no circumstances can tolerate an exposure of our citizens in China, 
merchants or missionaries, to the consequences of so sudden an abro- 
gation of their treaty protection. Fortunately, however, the actual 
recession in the flow of the emigration from China to the Pacific Coast, 
shown by trustworthy statistics, relieves us from any apprehension that 
the treatment of the subject in the proper course of diplomatic negotia- 
tions will introduce any new features of discontent or disturbance among 
the communities directly affected. Were such delay fraught with more 
inconveniences than have ever been suggested by the interests most 
earnest in promoting this legislation, I cannot but regard the sum- 
mary disturbance of our existing treaties with China as greatly more 
inconvenient to much wider and more permanent interests of the 
country. 

I have no occasion to insist upon the more general considerations of 
interest and duty which sacredly regard the faith of the nation in what- 
ever form of ol)ligation it may have been given. These sentiments ani- 
mate the deliberations of Congress and pervade the minds of our whole 
people. Our history gives little occasion for any reproach in this regard, 
and in asking the renewed attention of Congress to this bill, I am per- 
suaded that their action will maintain the public duty and the public 
honor. 

It is not surprising that the last paragraph, in view of the 
conviction of sober-minded people that Congress in the very act 
vetoed had been disregarding the faith of the nation, was inter- 
preted by many as conveying a covert rebuke. The bill on recon- 
sideration still commanded a plurality of the votes of the House 
of Representatives, but not the necessar^^ two thirds, and so 
failed to become a law. In all parts of the country, except on 
the Pacific Coast, the veto message received almost universal 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 217 

approbation. ^ However important it might be to restrict Chinese 
immigration, it was vastly more important for the country to act 
justly and decently in its international dealings. That was the 
prevailing sentiment of the press and of the leaders of public 
opinion everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Hayes 
in the message he himself wrote accurately reflected the dominant 
sentiment as well as his own conviction of duty in this vigorous 
paragraph : — 

Let it be admitted that the dangers apprehended from a longer con- 
tinuance of the Chinese immigration require consideration and action, 
they surely do not require a departure from the well-settled principles 
and usages of nations in their intercourse with each other, and in regard 
to the observance of treaties. We should deal with China in this matter 
precisely as we would expect and wish other nations to deal with us un- 
der similar circumstances. The peremptory abrogation of a part of this 
treaty without negotiation with China, and without her consent, is the 
abrogation of the whole. The abrogation of a treaty by one of the con- 
tracting parties is justifiable only upon reasons both of the highest jus- 
tice and of the highest necessity. To do this without notice, without fix- 
ing a day in advance when the act shall take effect, without affording an 
opportunity to China to be heard, and without the happening of any 
grave or unforeseen emergency, will be regarded hy the enlightened 
judgment of mankind as the denial of the obligation of the national 
faith. 

Diplomacy was successful in the following year in accomplish- 
ing in a gentle and friendly manner all that could reasonably be 
desired in the restriction of Chinese immigration. China signi- 
fied its willingness to consider the question "with a dispassionate 
fairness, and to cooperate in such measures as may tend to pre- 
vent injurious consequences to the United States." ^ Thereupon 
the President appointed James B. Angell, of Michigan, John F. 
Swift, of California, and William Henry Trescott, of North 
CaroHua, commissioners plenipotentiary, and directed them 
to proceed to Pekin. There they conferred with three similar 

^ "The veto of the anti-Chinese bill is generally approved east of the Rocky 
Mountains and bitterly denounced west of the mountains. I was burned in 
effigy in one town! No doubt a population without women — without wives 
and mothers — that can't assimilate with us, that underbids our laborers, must 
be hateful. It should be made certain by proper methods that such an invasion 
cannot permanently override oiu- people. It cannot safely be admitted into the 
bosom of our American society." (Diary, March, 1879.) 

* President Hayes's annual message, December 1, 1879. 



218 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

commissioners, designated by the Emperor of C hina. As the result 
of their negotiations two treaties were agreed upon in November, 
1880; one improving the commercial relations of the two coun- 
tries and forbidding the opium trade; the other and more im- 
portant so modifying the Burlingame Treaty as to permit the 
United States by legislative measures to "regulate, limit, or 
suspend" the immigration of Chinese laborers. The ratification 
of the treaties by both Governments followed promptly, and so 
it became possible for the United States, without breach of faith 
or endangering the general relations of commerce and amity with 
the Chinese Empire, to restrict and control the influx of Chinese 
into this country. The course of President Hayes in connection 
with this whole episode received in the retrospect the decided 
approval and commendation of the conservative sentiment of 
the entire Republic. 

During the summer of 1879 the De Lesseps project for con- 
structing a canal across the Isthmus of Panama began to take 
practical shape. The American people were tremendously in- 
terested in the proposal, and discussion of the possibilities in- 
volved in the building and control of an interoceanic canal under 
European auspices became general. What would be the relations 
of our Government to the enterprise? What power or powers 
would be charged with the maintenance of the neutrality of the 
waterway? How would the Monroe Doctrine be affected? These 
and similar questions were for months a chief topic of newspaper 
and popular discussion and were made the subject of prolonged 
official consideration. Senator Burnside, near the close of the 
special session of Congress, introduced a resolution, declaring 
"that the people of these States would not view without serious 
inquietude any attempt by the powers of Europe to establish 
under their protection and domination a ship canal across the 
Isthmus of Darien, and such action could not be regarded in any 
other light than as a manifestation of an unfriendly disposi- 
tion toward the United States." While no action was taken, 
the resolution fairly expressed a widely prevalent feeling. De 
Lesseps, to be sure, promptly disclaimed any official sanction 
of his project by the French Government, and the French Min- 
ister at Washington made a similar disavowal. But a company, 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 219 

organized under French law, conducted by Frenchmen, and 
receiving its capital from French investors, would necessarily 
have claims upon the power that created it, and its promoters 
and shareholders must naturally look to it if occasion arose to 
give proper support to their rights and interests. 

Meanwhile, too, the effort was made to create an American 
company, of which it was sought to induce General Grant, just 
returned from his triumphal trip around the world, to take the 
presidency, to build a canal by the Nicaragua route. Eminent 
American engineers in the public service, after long and pains- 
taking surveys, had pronounced this route the most feasible and 
desirable of all the isthmian projects. In his annual message in 
December the President indicated his sympathy with this Ameri- 
can proposal. And both houses of Congress were not slow in 
reflecting the popular concern at the French undertaking. In 
the House a select committee was constituted to inquire into 
our treaty rights and obligations on the Isthmus and to consider 
all pertinent questions in the premises. There was no division 
of parties on the subject. Men of all shades of opinion believed 
that the Monroe Doctrine was about to be defied. Even a man 
of so judicious and unexcitable a temper as Senator Bayard was 
stirred to declare in the Senate : — 

The scheme of uniting the two great oceans by a canal across the 
Isthmus on the southern border of this continent is one of world-wide 
importance, and the heart of every American proclaims that it is to be 
under the control of the Government of the United States. Our power 
may be questioned, but it will be maintained. Every counsel of wisdom, 
therefore, exhorts us to "seize the day" and in time of peace prepare for 
war, for it is the surest mode to avert it."^ 

^ The President was not an idle observer of the controversy : — 
"Last Friday, the 9th, I directed the Secretary of the Navy to order two of 
our national vessels to sail to the ports in the Chiriqui Grant, one on the Gulf 
of Mexico and one on the Pacific Coast between Panama andj^the proposed Nic- 
aragua Canal. The purpose is to establish naval stations in these important 
harbors. It is claimed that an American citizen, Mr. Ambrose Thompson, has 
procured a very important grant of the lands surrounding these harbors and of 
the right of way connecting them. Mr. Thompson conveyed to the United 
States, by an arrangement with President Lincoln, an interest in his grant. If 
it shall be deemed best by Congress to take possession of that interest, the 
presence of our ships and the establishing of our coaling-stations will give us a 
foothold which will be of vast service in controlling the passage from ocean to 
ocean either at Panama or at Nicaragua Lake." (Diary, January 13, 1880.) 



220 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The decided preponderance of informed and intelligent opin- 
ion, both official and popular, was that the interests of this coun- 
try in any isthmian canal were so much greater and so much 
more important than those of any or, indeed, all other countries, 
that while we could not and should not stop the building of a 
canal by whoever could provide the necessary capital, we were 
in duty bound to protect ourselves against the possibilities of 
evil consequences that might be involved in French control. 
There must be no misunderstanding on the part of the world 
that by the very nature and necessities of the case our rights and 
interests must receive paramount consideration. President 
Hayes was firmly convinced of the propriety of this view,^ and 
he gave concise but emphatic expression to it in a special mes- 
sage to Congress of March 8, 1880, transmitting copies of cor- 
respondence and other papers relating to the canal which had 
been asked for by the House. He said : — 

In further compliance with the resolution of the House, I deem it 
proper to state briefly my opinion as to the policy of the United States 
with respect to the construction of an interoceanic canal by any route 
across the American Isthmus. 

^ "The most important subject now under consideration is as to the canal 
across the Isthmus, connecting the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific. The 
French engineer, Lesseps, the chief man in building the Suez Canal, is actively 
at work organizing, or trying to organize, a company to enter upon the work. 
The time has come when the American doctrine ought to be explicitly stated. 
In my judgment the United States regard the commercial communication, 
whether by railroad or canal between the two oceans, across the Isthmus at any 
of the points which have been suggested, as essential to their prosperity and 
safety. The right of free passage at all times in peace or war, for the piu-pose of 
commerce or for defense, the United States deem essential to their safety and 
prosperity. They wish it to be understood by all concerned that the United 
States will not consent that any European power shall control the railroad or 
canal across the Isthmus of Central America. With due regard to the rights 
and wishes of our sister republics in the Isthmus, the United States will insist 
that this passageway shall always remain under American control. Wlioever 
invests capital in the contemplated work should do it with a distinct under- 
standing that the United States expects and intends to control the canal in 
conformity with its own interests. 

"The highway between that part of the United States which is on the Atlantic 
and the Gulf of Mexico, and that part of our country which is on the Pacific, 
must not be allowed to pass under the control of any European nation. The con- 
trol must be exclusively either in the country through which it passes, or in the 
United Slates, or under the joint control of the American Republics. The United 
States should control this great highway. ... It must not be controlled by 
Europe." (Diary, February 7, 1880.) 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 221 

The policy of this country is a canal under American control. The 
United States cannot consent to the surrender of this control to any 
European power or to any combination of European powers. If exist- 
ing treaties between the United States and other nations, or if the 
rights of sovereignty or property of other nations, stand in the way 
of this policy, — a contingency which is not apprehended, — suitable 
steps should be taken by just and liberal negotiations to promote and 
establish the American policy on this subject, consistently with the 
rights of the nations to be affected by it. 

The capital invested by corporations or citizens of other countries in 
such an enterprise must in a great degree look for protection to one or 
more of the great powers of the world. No European power can inter- 
vene for such protection without adopting measures on this continent 
which the United States would deem wholly inadmissible. If the 
protection of the United States is relied upon, the United States must 
exercise such control as will enable this country to protect its national 
interests and maintain the rights of those whose private capital is em- 
barked in the work. 

An interoceanic canal across the American Isthmus will essentially 
change the geographical relations between the Atlantic and Pacific 
Coasts of the United States, and between the United States and the 
rest of the world. It will be the great ocean thoroughfare between our 
Atlantic and our Pacific shores, and virtually a part of the coast-line 
of the United States. Our merely commercial interest in it is greater 
than that of all other countries, whUe its relations to our power and 
prosperity as a nation, to our means of defense, our unity, peace, and 
safety, are matters of paramount concern to the people of the United 
States. No other great power would, under similar circumstances, fail 
to assert a rightful control over a work so closely and vitally affecting 
its interest and welfare. 

Without urging further the grounds of my opinion, I repeat, in con- 
clusion, that it is the right and the duty of the United States to assert 
and maintain such supervision and authority over any interoceanic canal 
across the Isthmus that connects North and South America as will 
protect our national interests. This I am quite sure will be found not 
only compatible with but promotive of the widest and most permanent 
advantage to commerce and civilization.^ 

By a fortunate coincidence this message was sent to Congress 
on the very day that De Lesseps, who was visiting this country 

* Before writing this message the President had presented his views to the 
Cabinet. Every member had practically concurred therein, though Mr. Evarts 
was not con^^nced that the situation was as acute as the President regarded it. 
The opinion of the other members was substantially that expressed by Mr. 
Schurz: "No European nation under similar circumstances would hesitate an 
instant to assert its rights in such a case, and to give decided expression of its 
purpose to maintain them." 



222 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HA\^S 

on his way back to France from Panama, was appearing before 
the select committee to give information regarding his plans 
and purposes. Even his exuberant enthusiasm felt the dash 
of cold water that the President had administered, though it 
quickly revived its flame. 

Most of the leading papers, irrespective of party leanings, 
approved the President's declaration and gave his message 
cordial commendation. In Congress various resolutions, assert- 
ing virtually the same position as that taken by the President, 
were introduced and debated, but \\athout definitive action. 
De Lesseps on his return to France went forward with his pre- 
parations for floating his ill-fated and scandal-attended enter- 
prise with the ardor and resourcefulness characteristic rather 
of a young man than of a septuagenarian. In his last annual 
message, December 6, 1880, the President made only this brief 
reference to the matter : — 

The relations between this Government and that of the United 
States of Colombia have engaged public attention during the past year, 
mainly by reason of the project of an interoceanic canal across the 
Isthmus of Panama, to be built by private capital under a concession 
from the Colombian Government for that purpose. The treaty obliga- 
tions subsisting between the United States and Colombia, by which we 
guarantee the neutrality of the transit and the sovereignty and property 
of Colombia in the Isthmus, make it necessary that the conditions under 
which so stupendous a change in the region embraced in this guaranty 
should be effected, — transforming, as it would, this Isthmus, from a 
barrier between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, into a gateway and 
thoroughfare between them, for the navies and the merchant-ships of 
the world, — should receive the approval of this Government, as being 
compatible with the discharge of these obligations on our part, and 
consistent with our interests as the principal commercial power of the 
Western Hemisphere. The views which I expressed in a special message 
to Congress in March last, in relation to this project, I deem it my duty 
again to press upon your attention. Subsequent consideration has but 
confirmed the opinion "that it is the right and duty of the United States 
to assert and maintain such supervision and authority over any mter- 
oceanic canal across the Isthmus that connects North and South 
America as will protect our national interest." 

It was just at this time that, with a great blare of advertising, 
the Panama stock was being offered for subscription by promi- 
nent banking houses in Paris, London, and other European 



FOREIGN RELATIONS 223 

financial centres, and likewise in New York: and in Europe large 
subscriptions were being made. To disarm American suspicions 
and to propitiate American sentiment, in view of the known 
opinion of the President and the attitude of Congress, the ready 
and astute De Lesseps had conceived the plan of creating an 
American advisory committee whose ostensible function should 
be to control purchases of canal supplies in this country, but 
which would appear to give the enterprise an American char- 
acter. For president of this committee a figurehead of national 
note was desirable. General Grant was first approached, but 
in vain; and then with splendid audacity a man was sought in 
the very Cabinet of the President, namely, the Secretary of the 
Navy. While the duties of the position could hardly be much 
more than nominal, the emoluments were to be a salary of 
twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The salary was most at- 
tractive to Colonel Thompson, and yet, he was reluctant at first 
to take the place if the President should regard his acceptance as 
in any way inconsistent with his relations to the Administration 
and the doctrines of the President's message. But "it had 
occurred to him that the influence of an American president 
might be so used as to americanize the enterprise and thus re- 
move the principal objection made in this country." The pur- 
pose of his selection was so manifest and the impropriety of 
his even considering the offer was so obvious that the President 
was naturally surprised and chagrined when, early in December, 
the Secretary accepted the position without having previously 
retired from the Cabinet. The old gentleman had apparently 
persuaded himself that there would be no incongruity in his 
continuing to serve in the President's official family, while be- 
coming the titular representative in this country of a foreign 
enterprise, the exact status and possibilities of which were the 
subject of popular controversy and governmental inquiry. 

It was necessary for the President at once to undeceive the 
Secretary, and this he managed to do in so definite and yet deli- 
cate a way that the aged Secretary could not misunderstand his 
meaning nor yet feel offended in his pride. He commissioned 
Secretary Evarts, who had informed him of Secretary Thomp- 
son's decision, to say to the latter: — 



224 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The President regards your message through me as placing your 
resignation at his disposal, and decides at once to accept it to relieve 
you of all embarrassment on the subject. 

WTiereupon the Secretary promptly addressed a formal letter of 
resignation to the President, expressing "extreme reluctance" 
to withdraw from associations which had "been so uniformly 
pleasant and agreeable, so entirely unmarred by a single un- 
pleasant occurrence." 

In the House, in December, Mr. Crapo, of Massachusetts, 
introduced a resolution even more vigorous in expression than 
those debated in Congress during its preceding session, declaring 
the construction of a canal by the means of foreign capital under 
a European charter hostile to our established policy and violative 
of the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine; and asserting the determi- 
nation of this Government to control any canal that should be 
built. This resolution was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, which gave it long consideration, and at last submitted 
a report in which the Monroe Doctrine was elaborately reviewed 
and the propriety of the resolution was defended. No action 
was taken by the House on the resolution or the report; and 
nothing came of efforts made by Secretary Evarts to obtain a 
protocol to the treaty of 1846 with the Colombian Government 
which should provide that the United States exclusively should 
guarantee the neutrality of the canal. The unsettled controversy 
thus passed over to the next Administration and long continued 
to be the subject of dispute and negotiation. It is hardly neces- 
sary to recall that the doctrine asserted by President Hayes, 
"the policy of this country is a canal under American control," 
after long years of futile private efforts and various vicissitudes 
of diplomacy, was at last realized in the assumption of American 
authority on the Isthmus and the construction at vast public 
expense of the imposing undertaking. 

The large achievements of Mr. Hayes's Administration in 
dealing with domestic problems — the handling of the Southern 
situation, the restoration of specie payments and the strengthen- 
ing of the national credit, the efforts to bring about reform in the 
civil service, and the maintenance unimpaired of the President's 
prerogatives — have been fully set out in preceding chapters. 



DOMESTIC POLICIES 225 

The most rapid survey of the minor incidents and routine activ- 
ities of the period must suffice. This general statement can 
be made, that as compared with the preceding Administration 
a more efficient and businessUke spirit pervaded all the execu- 
tive offices; that the functions of government were exercised 
with a directness, a straightforwardness, and a freedom from 
scandal which were in striking contrast to the methods that had 
long been widely prevalent.^ When Mr. Hayes entered upon his 

1 Examination of Mr. Hayes's messages in detail surprises one with the large 
number of recommendations for improvements in the public service and for 
progressive legislation which, though ignored at the time, have since become 
accomplished facts. Especially noteworthy were his urgent pleas for more effi- 
cient legislation and methods for ending the scandal of polygamy in Utah and 
the adjacent Territories. Writing in his diary, January 13, 1880, of the appoint- 
ment of a Governor of Utah, the President says: "This under ordinary circum- 
stances would be a common administrative act. But an appointment in the 
place of the present very reputable Governor means a change of policy toward 
the Mormons. Now the Territory is virtually under the theocratic government 
of the Mormon Church. The union of Church and State is complete. The result 
is the usual one — the usurpation or absorption of all temporal authority and 
power by the Church. Polygamy and every other evil sanctioned by the Church 
is safe. To destroy the temporal power of the Mormon Church is the end in 
view. This requires agitation. The people of the United States must be made to 
appreciate, to understand the situation. Laws must be enacted which will take 
from the Mormon Church its temporal power. Mormonism as a sectarian idea 
is nothing; but as a system of government it is our duty to deal with it as an 
enemy to our institutions and its supporters and leaders as criminals." 

Mention also should be made of Mr. Hayes's share in the completion of the 
Washington Monument. In the diary is preserved the following interesting 
letter and footnote: — 

Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio. 
24 December, 1886. 

Mt dear Sir, — Mrs. Hayes wishes me to thank you warmly for your kind 
note and for your capital book on the Democracy of Art. I must also add my 
special gratification for your mention of my agency in securing the completion 
of the Washington Monument, and your discriminating approval of the obelisk 
in your work. There was much division of counsels about it. The Act of Con- 
gress making an appropriation for its continuance was generally regarded as 
a dead letter by reason of the conditions annexed. It was confidently objected: — 

(1) That the foundation would not sustain an average warehouse and that 
to patch it would be folly. 

(2) It would if completed be a disgrace to the nation — merely a tall and awk- 
ward smokestack at the best. 

(3) It ought to be torn down, and in its stead there should be built an arch, 
or a splendid structm-e filled with statues and allegorical figures. 

For some months I made it a study — a hobby. General Casey skilfully 
prepared a plan to strengthen the foundation. Mr. Spoflord furnished the height 
of other tall structures. Mr. Clark, architect of the Capitol, gave constant and 



226 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

term the country was still depressed and suffering from the ef- 
fects of the severe financial panic of 1873; and his party was 
discredited, riven by internal discussions, and on the verge of 
collapse. When he left the White House, bounding prosperity 
made glad the hearts of the people, and his party was once more 
triumphant, confident, aggressive. The wonder is that with a 
hostile Congress, and with his own party disunited in its support 
of all the great policies to which he was committed by his letter 
of acceptance and his inaugural address, and which he deter- 
minedly pursued — the wonder is that he could accomplish as 
much as he did. His Administration proved and illustrated his 
own wise maxim that "he serves his party best who serves his 
country best." He was frankly and devotedly a Republican. 
On the great questions which divided the parties he believed 
unswervingly that the Republicans were right and the Demo- 
crats were wrong. For the best development, for the progress, 
and the perpetuity of our institutions he was thoroughly con- 
vinced that the Republican view should prevail. But he did 
not doubt the patriotic motives of his Democratic opponents, 
however much he thought them mistaken in their principles, 
and he had not shut his eyes to the excesses of Republican ad- 
ministration, nor closed his ears to the indignant demand of the 
people for reasonableness and reform. In the face of the pro- 
tests, the denunciation, and the malignant enmity of men w^ho 

indispensable aid to the work. Mr. Corcoran and others earnestly supported the 
project of going forward, and gradually all opposition was overcome. We de- 
cided that the monument should overtop all other tall structures, and fixed its 
height, therefore, at 550 feet. On some of the details we consulted our Minister 
to Italy, Mr. George P. Marsh. Singularly and fortunately he discovered that 
there was a rule which determined the height of an obelisk by reference to the 
dimension of its base; and that by the rule our monument should be 555 feet 
high.* 

This is hastily written from memory and is, of course, subject to correc- 
tion by recurring to documents. It will give you an idea of the ground of my 
gratification in reading your appreciative commendation of the completed 
monument. — Sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

Mr. J. Edwards Clarke, 
Washington, D.C. 

* General Casey is entitled to special and honorable mention. He solved the 
difficult problem presented by the defective foundation. To him the nation is 
indebted for the successful completion of its most admirable and illustrious 
memorial structure. 



DOMESTIC POLICIES 227 

had long been leaders of his party, he serenely maintained his 
course, firmly convinced in his own mind that the policies he 
was enforcing, instead of wrecking his party, as his detractors 
angrily prophesied, would bring new strength and new courage 
to the Republican cause. And the event proved that he was far 
wiser than his critics. 

Mr. Hayes himself, writing in his diary (December 29, 
1881), ten months after the expiration of his term, reviews the 
accomplishment of his Administration in this manner: — 

To my mind the conclusive argument in behalf of my Administration 
is its results. Success is the final test of public men and public measures. I 
What was the result of the Administration on the country and on the 
party which elected it.^* The Administration found the country divided 
and distracted and every interest depressed. It left it united, harmo- 
nious, and prosperous. The Administration came in with the Republican 
party discordant, disheartened, and weak. When the Administration 
closed, its party was united, strong, confident, and victorious. At its 
beginning, the South was solid, and the North divided. At its close the 
North was united and solid and the South was divided. At the begin- 
ning both houses of Congress had been lost. When it closed, both houses 
were regained. I can say with truth: "I left this great country prosper- 
ous and happy, and the party of my choice strong, victorious, and 
united. In serving the country I served the party." 

The measures which did the most to bring about these auspicious 
results were, as a general statement, opposed by the leaders of my 
party — by the men who were most bitter in their hostility to me, 
namely, Conkling, Blaine, Cameron, etc., etc. I refer especially to the 
Southern policy, the civil service policy, and the financial policy of the 
Administration. The great success of the Administration in its civil serv- 
ice policy was in getting the control of the New York Custom-House, 
and in changing it from a political machine for the benefit of party lead- 
ers into a business office for the benefit of the public. This was where the 
spoils system was strongest and where the reform was most difficult. 
All of my opponents were on the wrong side of the question. The vic- 
tory was signal and in its results complete. The successful reform in 
New York is the comer-stone of the final thorough and complete reform 
of the whole service of the United States. WTiat has been done in New 
York against such odds can be done, fnd surely will be done, every- 
where. 

The Southern policy these leaders all reviled; now, all are silenced 
by the results. Their President utters not a word on the subject. His 
silence is the most significant proof of the wisdom and success of my 
policy. 

On financial measures, all of the leaders named, Blaine, Cameron, 



228 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Conkling, either opposed openly or secretly. They were all unsound on 
the Greenback heresies. I point to the results for my endorsement. 

The great railway strike in the summer of 1877, which para- 
lyzed traffic between the IVIississippi and the Atlantic seaboard, 
was attended by riots and acts of violence beyond the power of 
the state authorities effectively to suppress. President Hayes 
promptly responded to the request of various Governors for 
national assistance; issued proclamations of warning, and dis- 
patched troops to the scenes of disorder. It was a source of pro- 
found gratification to the President, of satisfaction and pride to 
the country, that wherever the federal troops appeared, quiet 
and order were immediately restored without the effusion of a 
drop of blood. The display of national authority was instantly 
effective in restoring normal conditions. During the calamitous 
epidemic of yellow fever in the South, in the summer of 1878, 
the resources of the War Department were made available to 
afford shelter and food to houseless refugees from the centres of 
infection. And the army was constantly employed in the In- 
dian country and along the Mexican border in preserving the 
peace and in protecting the lives and, property of the frontier 
settlers. 

On more than one occasion Indian tribes broke away from 
their reservations and went on the war-path, causing widespread 
anxiety and alarm by their savage atrocities. The Indian 
fighters of the army, conspicuous among whom was General 
Crook, the President's old commander in the Shenandoah days, 
pursued them skilfully and relentlessly and the war cloud would 
soon pass. But for the most part peaceful conditions prevailed 
throughout the wide stretches of Indian occupation; the wel- 
fare and interests of the wards of the nation were conscientiously 
looked after, and far-sighted plans for the gradual amelioration 
of their condition, for their education and training in the usages 
of civilization, with a view to their ultimate absorption in the 
general body of citizenship, were formulated and as far as prac- 
ticable put in operation. To this end the experiment of sending 
selected Indian youths of both sexes from various tribes to the 
Hampton Institute, to be taught the common school branches 
and to be instructed in trades and agriculture, was undertaken. 
And the promise of success of this experiment was so flattering, 



INDIAN POLICY 229 

and the eagerness of the tribesmen to avail themselves of the 
opportunity offered for their children was so manifest, that the 
cavalry barracks at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, were turned over to 
the Department of the Interior for the establishment of an 
Indian school; and a similar school was opened at Forest Grove 
in Oregon. This plan and process of fostering the practical edu- 
cation of Indian youth became the settled policy of the Govern- 
ment and has had an influence and effect in forwarding the 
civilization of the aborigines which it would be difficult to meas- 
ure. Too great credit cannot be given Secretary Schurz for the 
zeal with which he devoted himself to the cause of the Indians, 
and the assiduity and intelligence which he displayed in advo- 
cating and applying his enlightened policy. Mr. Hayes gave him 
steadfast support, emphasizing in his annual messages the 
humane and statesmanlike features of the policy pursued, and 
pressing upon Congress the importance of its extension and 
Uberal support. This policy, Mr. Hayes said, in his message of 
December 1, 1879, "the object of which is to make liberal pro- 
vision for the education of Indian youth, to settle the Indians 
upon farm-lots in severalty, to give them title in fee to their 
farms, inalienable for a certain number of years, and when their 
wants are thus pro\aded for, to dispose by sale of the lands on 
their reservations not occupied and used by them, a fund to be 
formed out of the proceeds for the benefit of the Indians, which 
will gradually relieve the Government of the expenses now pro- 
vided for by annual appropriations, must commend itself as just 
and beneficial to the Indians, and as also calculated to remove 
those obstructions which the existence of large reservations 
presents to the settlement and development of the country. 
I, therefore, earnestly recommend the enactment of a law en- 
abling the Government to give Indians a title in fee, inalienable 
for twenty-five years, to the farm-lands assigned to them by 
allotment." ^ It is substantially this policy which finally became 

* In his last annual message Mr. Hayes could say: "It gives me great 
pleasure to say that our Indian affairs appear to be in a more hopeful condition 
now than ever before. The Indians have made gratifying progress in agriculture, 
herding, and mechanical pursuits. Many who were a few years ago in hostile 
conflict with the Government are quietly settling down on farms where they 
hope to make their permanent homes, building houses and engaging in the occu- 
pations of civilized life. The introduction of the freighting business among them 



230 RUTHERFORD BIRCIL\RD HAYES 

the Government's established course of action, and under the 
operation of which the Indian problem, long a source of per- 
plexity, injustice, and corruption, has gradually been nearing 
permanent solution. 

In the last few months of Mr, Hayes's term the wise general 
course of the Administration in dealing with the Indians and 
the large beneficent results attained were partially obscured for 
the time being by passionate discussion of a single unfortunate 
episode; though a careful survey of the facts relieved the execu- 
tive department of the Government of the greater burden of 
responsibility. In the summer of 1877, in obedience to the order 
of Congress, Secretary Schurz had caused the removal of the 
Ponca tribe of Indians from their old home in Dakota and 
Nebraska to the Indian Territory, A remnant of the tribe man- 
aged to escape removal or to return to their old home. Now it 
had gradually come to the knowledge of the general public that, 
through congressional indifference or callousness and ofiicial 
carelessness or stupidity, grave injustice and unmerited hard- 
ship had been inflicted on the Poncas. The facts had been duly 
set forth in the reports of Secretary Schurz and of the Indian 
Commissioner; and a committee of the Senate had made a 
thorough investigation and reported in May, 1880, that "a great 
wrong had been done to the Ponca Indians." But the public 
mind had been slow to become excited over the sufferings of a 
few hundred Indians, however great and undeserved. At last 
it did become aroused and loudly demanded explanation and 
reparation. The fact appeared that by some blunder the old 
reservation, on which the tribe had lived time out of mind and 
which had been assured to it in perpetuity by the Government, 
had been included in the lands set apart to the Sioux by a recent 
treaty with that powerful tribe. Thereupon Congress, without 
seeking to correct the blunder, had ordered the transfer of the 
Poncas to the Indian Territory, but had made no provision for 
building them new homes or giving them proper care on their 

has been remarkably fruitful of good results, in giving manj' of them congenial 
and remunerative employment, and in stimulating their ambition to earn their 
own support. Their honesty, fidelity, and efiBciency as carriers are highly praised. 
The organization of a police force of Indians has been equally successful in 
maintaining law and order upon the reservations, and in exercising a wholesome 
moral influence among the Indians themselves." 



INDIAN POLICY 231 

arrival there. Mr. Schurz, in his first annual report, set forth 
the situation in language that should have arrested the attention 
of Congress : — 

The case of the Poncas seems entitled to especial consideration at the 
hands of Congress. The}' have always been friendly to the whites. It 
is said, and, as far as I have been able to learn, truthfully, that no Ponca 
ever killed a white man. The orders of the Government always met 
with obedient compliance at their hands. Their removal from their old 
homes on the Missouri River was to them a great hardship. They had 
been born and raised there. They had houses there in which they lived 
according to their ideas of comfort. Many of them had engaged in agri- 
culture, and possessed cattle and agricultural implements. They were 
very reluctant to leave all this, but when Congress had resolved upon 
their removal they finally overcame that reluctance and obeyed. Con- 
sidering their constant good conduct, their obedient spirit, and the sacri- 
fices they have made, they are certainly entitled to more than ordinary 
care at the hands of the Government, and I urgently recommend that 
liberal provision be made to aid them in their new settlement. 

In spite of this and of subsequent pleas by the Secretary, as well 
as eloquent statements of the facts in the case by the Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs and by the agent of the Poncas, in spite 
of the report of the Senate committee already mentioned, Con- 
gress had taken no steps to repair the injustice that had been 
done. Meanwhile, however, the situation of the removed In- 
dians had been greatly ameliorated by the efforts of the Indian 
Department, and they had reluctantly given up their longing to 
return to the north; but they very properly felt that they were 
entitled to reasonable compensation for the lands that had 
been taken from them. 

Finally, in December, 1880, at the solicitation of many promi- 
nent citizens, and because he himself thought that the circum- 
stances of the case warranted the unusual procedure, the Presi- 
dent appointed a commission ^ to visit both portions of the 
Ponca tribe, to make a thorough investigation of the facts at- 
tending the removal and of present conditions, and to recom- 
mend "what justice and humanity required should be done by 
the Government of the United States." While the commission 
was engaged in its labors a delegation of Ponca chiefs from the 

* The members of the commission were Brigadier-Generals Crook and Miles, 
who had large knowledge of the Indians, and Messrs William Stickney, of Wash- 
ington, D.C., and Walter Allen, of Newton, Mass. 



232 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Indian Territory visited Washington and presented their cause 
in person to the President. On the report of the commission, 
which recommended ample reparation for the injuries suffered 
by the Poncas, in substantial accord with the terms submitted 
by the Ponca chiefs, Mr. Hayes, on February 1, 1881, sent a 
special message to Congress, urging action in harmony with the 
commission's suggestions. The message recited briefly the his- 
tory of the case, urged immediate remedial measures, set forth 
anew the principles which in the President's judgment should 
control the Government's future Indian policy, ^ and ended with 
this frank and dignified paragraph : — 

I do not undertake to apportion the blame for the injustice done to 
the Poncas. Whether the Executive or Congress or the public is chiefly 
in fault is not now a question of practical importance. As the Chief 
Executive at the time when the wrong was consummated, I am deeply 
sensible that enough of the responsibihty for that wrong justly attaches 
to me to make it my particular duty and earnest desire to do all I can 

* The President said: — 

"Our general Indian policy for the future should embrace the following lead- 
ing ideas : — 

"1. The Indians should be prepared for citizenship by giving to their young 
of both sexes that industrial and general education which is required to enable 
them to be self-supporting and capable of self-protection in a civilized com- 
munity. 2. Lands should be allotted to the Indians in severalty, inalienable 
for a certain period. 3. The Indians should have a fair compensation for their 
lands not required for individual allotment, the amount to be invested with 
suitable safeguards for their benefit. 4. With these prerequisites secured, the 
Indians should be made citizens, and invested with the rights and charged with 
the responsibilities of citizenship. 

"It is therefore recommended that legislation be adopted in relation to the 
Ponca Indians, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to secure to the individ- 
ual members of the Ponca tribe, in severalty, suflBcient land for their support, 
inalienable for a term of years and until the restriction upon alienation may be 
removed by the President. Ample time and opportunity should be given to the 
members of the tribe freely to choose their allotments either on their old or their 
new reservation. 

"Full compensation should be made for the lands to be relinquished, for their 
los.ses by the Sioux depredations, and by reason of their removal to the Indian 
Territory, the amount not to be less than the sums named in the declaration of 
the chiefs, made December 27, 1880. 

"In short, nothing should be left undone to show to the Indians that the 
Government of the United States regards their rights as equally sacred with 
those of its citizens. 

"The time has come when the policy should be to place the Indians as rapidly 
as practicable on the same footing with the other permanent inhabitants of our 
country." 



INDIAN POLICY 233 

to give to these injured people that measure of redress which is required 
alike by justice and by humanity. 

It is pleasant to recall that Congress instantly heeded the 
President's plea, and, as far as was then practicable, made atone- 
ment for the wrongs that the inoffensive Poncas had suffered. 
The President's candor in assuming a share of thie responsibility 
for the wrong the Government had perpetrated, though it is 
difficult to see wherein he was at fault, unless it was in not more 
promptly pressing the matter upon the attention of Congress, 
satisfied reasonable men that, whatever delinquency could be 
charged against the Executive in the whole transaction, it was 
not the result of wrong motive or intentional neglect.^ And in 
any event, it was altogether exceptional and was utterly insig- 
nificant in comparison with the many and substantial benefits 
and improvements which had been brought about by the 
intelligent and humane methods regularly enforced by the Ad- 
ministration in the Indian service. 

Constantly during Mr. Hayes's term the politicians of the 
Republican party were busy with plans and preparations for the 
Presidential campaign of 1880. Already in 1879 movements in 
behalf of several candidates were in full swing. Of all these Mr. 
Hayes was an interested observer; in none did he participate.^ 

* Doubtless it would have been wiser for Secretary Schurz, instead of at once 
carrying out the order of Congress for the removal of the tribe to the Indian 
Territory, to have presented the facts of the rights of the Poncas to their Ne- 
braska and Dakota lands under treaties which long antedated the treaty with 
the Sioux, and to have asked Congress to reconsider the order. The whole 
transaction was blameworthy. As the commission said: "The removal of the 
Ponca Indians from their reservation in Dakota and Nebraska, where they were 
living by virtue of treaties with the United States of 1858 and 1807, was not only 
most unfortunate for the Indians, resulting in great hardships and serious loss 
of life and property, but was injudicious and without sufficient cause." 

^ "The committee of the Republican party for the nation met here yesterday. 
This is the first official movement toward the Presidential election. The com- 
mittee in a general way were harmonious. They were apparently about equally 
divided in their preferences for next President between Grant and Blaine, with 
a decided balance of power for Sherman. If New Yerk could, with a fair degree 
of unity, present a man like, say, the Vice-President or Governor Fish, he would 
probably be nominated. The general popular favorite is Grant. But many 
thoughtful men dislike a departure from Washington's precedent — dislike the 
third term; and many more fear a return to the unfortunate methods and men 
of General Grant's former Administration." (Diary, December 18, 1879.). 



234 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

He himself was not in the race, having taken himself completely 
out of consideration by his letter of acceptance, though many 
voices were raised in favor of disregarding his announcement. 
The only one of his rivals at Cincinnati who now sought the 
nomination was Mr. Blaine, who had never ceased to nurse his 
ambition, and who had again a strong and enthusiastic following. 
Morton was dead and Bristow had disappeared from the political 
arena. Mr. Sherman was an avowed candidate. His brilliant 
services as Secretary of the Treasury had vastly increased his 
great reputation for sound statesmanship and wise conserva- 
tism. Among the more thoughtful elements of the party he was 
recognized as the man of all others most worthy of the high 
honor; best entitled by his long public service and his splendid 
achievements to leadership of his party. His nomination would 
be emphatic endorsement of the Administration, and Mr. Hayes 
was in full sympathy with his aspirations. But for some reason, 
— coldness of manner, reserve, lack of sympathetic appeal, or 
whatever it may have been, — Mr. Sherman was never able, with 
all his unusual intellectual gifts and powers of accomplishment, 
to win wide popularity among the rank and file of his fellow citi- 
zens. He won their high regard, their admiration, but he failed 
to touch their imaginations, to inspire them with personal devo- 
tion. Moreover, the very fact that he was part of the Adminis- 
tration made his candidacy particularly obnoxious to all the reac- 
tionary forces of the party, which longed for the good old days 
before reform was heard of, and which had persistently refused 
to be reconciled or to give more than half-hearted support to 
Mr. Hayes; while the fact that, as a loyal party man, he had 
made speeches in behalf of the election of Mr. Cornell as Gover- 
nor of New York, after he himself had been a party to the dis- 
missal of that gentleman for cause from the customs service, had 
cooled the ardor for him of earnest reformers. 

Mr. Conkling was not a candidate himself, but he had as- 
sumed the leadership of the forces of the party that were bent 
upon the nomination once more of General Grant and the restora- 
tion of the ancient regime of personal government and senatorial 
domination. To this cause he devoted his great powers with tire- 
less energy and unwavering zeal, born of his years of pique and 
animosity toward the President by reason of the curtailment of 



NOMINATION OF GARFIELD 235 

his prestige and the denial of his arrogant claims to power and 
patronage. He had been throughout implacable in his hostility 
to Mr. Hayes, never once appearing at the White House, during 
its occupancy by Mr. Hayes. ^ With him now were associated the 
reactionary elements of the party, — and they were numerous, — 
as well as hosts of men who were swayed more by their emotions 
than their reason. The reports of the honors and attentions 
showered on the great soldier by potentates, princes, and peoples 
during his progress around the world, the acclaim with which he 
was everywhere received, filled all American hearts with exulta- 
tion, and caused many to forget the scandals of his civil admin- 
istration and to remember only his incomparable services in the 
war to save the Union. ^ They were ready to welcome him with 

* "Conkling's death calls up the past. He was talented and able in the de- 
bates of public life, but as I see it, his place is largely due to his manipulation 
of men and patronage. He had no measures, made no memorable speeches, but 
his fidelity to supporters and skill in flattery, with an impressive presence and 
manner, were his chief points. An inordinate egotism and self-will were too 
much for his judgment. If he could not rule, he would not 'play.' He was un- 
faithful to his party whenever he could not control it. Examples are numerous. 
He failed in 1876 after his disappointment at Cincinnati. A man with less vanity 
would have known that he had no chance there. After the election, during the 
contest over the disputed results, he was again untrue, but lacked the courage 
to carry out his wishes. In the Potter Committee business he intrigued with the 
common enemy. He had to be pacified in the Garfield campaign. After the elec- 
tion he required control of New York appointments as a condition of support of 
the Garfield Administration. After his defeat in New York, due [to] — brought 
about by — his ' monomania on the subject of his own importance,' he was out of 
political life until the convention at Chicago in 1884 when he allowed it to be 
understood that he would support Blaine. But when the election came on, he, as 
usual, opposed his party, it being no longer imder his control. 

"After I went to Washington and after the delivery of the inaugural, he was 
profuse in admiration of my opinions and course — this to me personally — until 
the announcement of my Cabinet, when he became hostile, never again calling 
on me. We never spoke with each other afterwards. He wanted Piatt for 
Postmaster-General. That was the condition of his support." (Diary, April 19, 
1888.) 

^ "The backbone of the [Grant] movement, without which it could have only 
a forced, sickly, sensational existence, lies in Grant's popularity with the masses 
of the Republican party. They have already forgotten his many errors of judg- 
ment, his astonishing faculty for clinging to bad men, . . . the disreputable hang- 
ers-on who surrounded him, the official scandals that were constantly breaking 
out in his Administration; and they remember only his military reno-wn, his 
conservative, honest course toward the finances, and the fact that the country 
got along pretty well on the whole under his rule." (E. V. Smalley, Washington 
correspondence New York Herald, dated December 9, 1878.) 

General Grant's own attitude toward the movement in his behalf, at least at 



236 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

wild demonstrations of joy on his return to our shores and to 
shout themselves hoarse in favor of his restoration to the White 
House. Among the more conservative and thoughtful of the Re- 
publicans, those whose memories had not grown dull, there was 
genuine alarm at this outburst of emotional enthusiasm, fostered 

the start, is set out in a letter to President Hayes from General J. M. Comly, 
American Minister to Hawaii. General Comly was in San Francisco at the time 
of the great reception to General Grant on his return to this country in the 
autumn of 1879. Soon after returning to Honolulu, General Comh- wrote the 
following letter to the President: — 

"Dear Gener.yl, — At San Francisco General Grant sent for me one night 
at 12 o'clock and kept me (part of the time very uneasily, for I thought it was 
surely too much of a tax on him) until 2 a.m. He talked in the most interesting 
manner of his entire trip; but it is not of that I want to write just now. I 
Ksked him frankly, and in the most direct and unequivocal English at my com- 
mand, whether he would be willing under any circumstances to allow his name 
to be brought out for a third term, telling him his communication could be as 
confidential as he desired, if he wished me to say nothing on the sul)ject. He 
responded with the utmost frankness, without any expression of an injunction 
of secrecy, but (as I understood) with a wish to avoid any public mention or 
discussion. He said substantially (I think I give his exact language) : ' I do not 
want to run again. I would rather somebody else would be nominated. I do 
not think I am needed for a candidate. I would rather they would take somebody 
else.' He mentioned some names which he said were good strong names and good 
Republicans. Spoke very cordially of Sherman first, Blaine, and yourself. Said 
he was sorry you had such an objection to a second term. I think he referred 
to a reported interview with you in Chicago, which came by telegraph about 
that day, covering that point. After one or two more expressions in a general 
way, he said, ' I would not turn my hand over either way,' making the motion 
with his hand. He then began again talking about his trip. 

"The conversation changed my opinion entirely as to Grant's candidacy — 
his willingness, I mean. I am convinced that he will not decline a nomination, 
if tendered with full acquiescence of leading Republicans. One thing has made 
this conversation seem of sufficient interest to justify the space it has occupied, 
and that is the following: Before I went in (with Grant's valet, whom he sent 
for me), John Russell Young said that Grant was going to send for me after the 
crowd was gone, and he said very urgently: 'The General has not told anybody 
about the third-term business yet. He has been asked by a good many, and he 
looks straight before him and simply refuses to reply at all. I know he will tell 
you, if you ask him.' I expressed the astonishment I felt at such an assertion, 
but Young repeated: 'I know what I am talking about — you ask him — he 
will tell you all about it.' The next morning Young was passing to the carriage 
with the party as I stood in the court at the hotel, and he ran out from them to 
say, 'Well, it was as I told you, was n't it?' 

"Of course I am not quite foolish enough to suppose that General Grant 
talked to me for any reason personal to myself. I think I was expected to vrrite 
to you about it, — and have accordingly done so, — though I shall treat the 
conversation as otherwise strictly confidential for the present, until otherwise 
advised, at least." 



I 



NOmNATION OF GARFIELD 237 

and manipulated as it was by the men of "the old guard," 
with Mr. Conkling at their head, who had given General Grant's 
Administration as President its evil repute. The cry of Csesar- 
ism was raised and with midoubted effect; and the profound feel- 
ing in opposition to a third term for any President — almost 
superstitious in its intensity — which pervades the great mass 
of Americans was invoked in protest against the Stalwart move- 
ment in behalf of Grant. 

In spite of all the forces and influences of opposition to their 
design, the reactionaries appeared at the national convention at 
Chicago with a compact and devoted body of delegates, pledged 
to the nomination of Grant, which lacked less than fourscore of 
being a majority of the whole number. The Grant partisans met 
their first defeat when the convention, following the precedent of 
four years before, refused to allow the unit rule to be enforced by 
state delegations. But for the thirty-six ballots that were neces- 
sary to determine the nomination they did not waver in their 
allegiance. On the first ballot they stood 304 strong, on the last 
307; on no ballot were they fewer than 302; but on none did they 
number more than 313. Mr. Blaine commanded 284 votes at 
first, and retained most of his strength till the break came; Mr. 
Sherman's vote grew from 93 to 119. The rest of the delegates 
were divided among Edmunds, Washburne, and Windom.^ On 
the third ballot one vote was cast for Garfield, who had made an 

1 Mr. Hayes followed the proceedings at Chicago with intense interest. His 
comment in'his diary, Jime 5, was: "This is the fourth day of the Chicago Con- 
vention. It is probable that no nomination will be made to-day. The friends of 
Grant are apparently working for delay. It now seems impossible to nominate 
Grant. Blaine's chances are good. It may be Sherman or a fom-th — either 
Edmunds or Windom. The defeat of Grant is due to the unpopularity of the 
managers of his canvass and of their methods. The third term and the general 
lack of availability on account of his failure as President are also powerful ele- 
ments in producing the result. The immediately valuable result is the condemna- 
tion of the machine as organized and managed by Conkling and Cameron. The 
latter is in all respects a failure as a politician. The final overthrow of the unit 
rule is a solid achievement. I greatly regret that Grant — our first soldier and 
a man of many sterling qualities — should be so hiuniliated and degraded as 
he has been by his unprincipled supporters. 

"Let me emphasize in my last message the idea that the Constitution should 
be so amended as to lengthen the term of the President to six years, and so as to 
render him ineligible for a second term." — For some reason, however, Mr. 
Hayes abandoned the intention here expressed of repeating and emphasizing 
this recommendation. 



238 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

eloquent speech placing Mr. Sherman in nomination. From that 
ballot on, with the exception of four ballots, he received one or 
two votes until the thirty-fourth ballot when his vote rose to 17; 
on the next ballot he had 50 votes. On the next and last ballot 
the friends of all the candidates except Grant, despairing of any 
possibility of nominating the man they preferred, went with a 
rush to Garfield and gave him 399 out of 756 votes. Then, to 
conciliate the crushed and humiliated Conkling, the convention 
nominated his chief political lieutenant, Chester A. Arthur, — 
the man who had been removed by President Hayes from the 
New York Custom-House for offensive political activity, — for 
Vice-President. 

The nomination of Garfield was a decisive victory for the 
better elements of the party, a condemnation of the reactiona- 
ries, and a practical approval of the Administration of President 
Hayes. General Garfield had been one of the statesmen that 
visited Louisiana during the count of votes by the Returning 
Board and had served on the Electoral Commission. During Mr. 
Hayes's entire term he had been the Republican leader in the 
House of Representatives and the constant and most effective 
advocate and defender of the Administration's policies. Even 
the nomination of Mr. Sherman could hardly have been inter- 
preted as a more emphatic expression by the party of commenda- 
tion of Mr. Hayes's conduct of the Government. The platform 
adopted by the convention declared : — 

That the purity and patriotism which characterized the earlier career 
of Rutherford B. Hayes, in peace and war, and which guided the 
thoughts of our immediate predecessors to him for a Presidential candi- 
date, have continued to inspire him in his career as Chief Executive, 
and that history will accord to his Administration the honors which are 
due to an efficient, just, and courteous discharge of the public business, 
and will honor his interpositions between the people and proposed 
partisan laws. 

With Mr. Garfield as the head of the ticket this subdued, 
almost perfunctory, paragraph was dowered wnth fuller meaning 
and vitality. Mr. Hayes saw at once the strong points of Gar- 
field's candidacy, and thought it altogether probable that it would 
be ratified by the country.^ In his diary (June 11) he writes: — 

1 "General Garfield returned from Ohio this morning and spent several hours 



NOMINATION OF GARFIELD 239 

General Garfield's nomination at Chicago was the best that was pos- 
sible. It is altogether good. The convention accomphshed a great deal 
of good. The defeat of the unit rule was an important achievement; the 
defeat of the rule-or-ruin Senators, who usurped the power of the peo- 
ple; the defeat of a third term against so great a chieftain as Grant. 
There is much personal gratification in it; the defeat of those who have 
been bitter against me; the success of one who has uniformly been 
friendly; Ohio to the front also and again; the endorsement of me and 
my Administration; the endorsement of civU service reform. The sop 
thrown to Conkling in the nomination of Arthur only serves to empha- 
size the completeness of his defeat. He was so crushed that it was from 
sheer sympathy that this bone was thrown to him. 

But now, how to win.'' The contest will be close and fierce. We may be 
beaten. Oregon begins the campaign with a good first gun. 

We must neglect no element of success. There is a great deal of 
strength in Garfield's life and struggles as a self-made man. Let it be 
thoroughly presented. In facts and incidents, in poetry and tales, in 
pictures, on banners, in representations, in processions, in watchwords 
and nicknames. How from poverty and obscurity, by labor at all avoca- 
tions, he became a great scholar, a statesman, a major-general, a Sena- 
tor, a Presidential candidate. Give the amplest details — a school- 
teacher, a laborer on the canal, the name of his boat. The truth is no 
man ever started so low that accomphshed so much, in all our history. 
Not Franklin or Lincoln even. 

Once in about twenty years a campaign on personal characteristics is 
in order. General Jackson in 1820-24 [sic]; General Harrison in 1840; 
Lincoln in 1860; now Garfield in 1880. I know we can't repeat in details, 
but in substance we can. In this instance we stand on the rock of truth. 
Such struggles with adverse circumstances and such success. The boy 
on the towpath has become in truth the scholar and the gentleman by his 
own unaided work. He is the ideal candidate because he is the ideal 
self-made man. 

If he were not in public life he would be equally eminent as a professor 

with me and took dinner with us. He is a little hoarse from much talking, but 
is natural and sensible. I told him I thought the nomination would be ratified 
at the election with enthusiasm — that his personal history as an ideal self- 
made man would be a most popular feature of the canvass. He was anxious 
to know the feeHngs of Sherman as to his loyalty to him. I assured him on this 
point that it was as he would wish it to be. 

"He told two omens. As he entered the convention the day of his nomination 
a man distributing leaves of the New Testament handed him a leaf which he 
(Garfield) put in his pocket. Long after the nomination, emptying his pockets, 
the leaf was foimd. The verse that was uppermost as it was folded read : ' The 
stone which the builders rejected,' etc., etc. 

"At 1 o'clock P.M., the hour of the nomination, an eagle lit on Garfield's house 
m Washington and sat there several minutes and was seen by many persons." 
(Diary, June 15.) 



240 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

in a college, as a lecturer, as an author, an essayist, or a metaphy- 
sician.* 

* Writing to William Henry Smith, June 18, 1880, Mr. Hayes said apropos of 
the Chicago Convention: "I am delighted with it. How do you feel.* Hoar for 
president, the unit rule (the corner-stone of the boss system) abolished, Cameron 
crushed, the Administration endorsed, civil service reform endorsed, the tri- 
umvirs beaten, the eager, self-seeking candidates beaten, the oflGce seeking the 
man! What other convention in all history can show as much good and as little 
harm? 

"Of course the final issue is in doubt, but it is a case full of hope, and a case 
for presenting a bold and confident front. John Thompson's advice should be 
our keynote in advising. The coimtry is full of men of no party ties. Garfield is 
the ideal self-made man. Nobody since Dr. Franklin so completely the work of 
his own ambitious labor. Clay and Lincoln got their place by gifts direct from 
Heaven. But the full man, the trained man, the man equipped for achievement, 
in short, the man like Garfield, is made by his own perseverance and industry. 
What an encouragement to the ambitious young fellows of our country. It will 
surely tell in the canvass. If before the day of the Presidential election we can 
persuade the country that Garfield is siu-ely coming in, we may carry several 
Southern States. What a victory that would be! But — " 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

AMONG THE PEOPLE; NEW ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH. — 
RECONCILIATION 

DURING the first year of his term Mr, Hayes made several 
trips to different parts of the country, accompanied by Mrs. 
Hayes and members of the Cabinet. Early in May he partici- 
pated in the ceremonies attending the opening of the permanent 
exhibition at Philadelphia. Just after this he was a guest at the 
annual Chamber of Commerce dinner in New York. In June he 
visited Providence and Boston, being present at the Harvard 
Commencement exercises, when he received the honorary degree 
of Doctor of Laws. On all these occasions, cities and individuals 
showered attentions — banquets, processions, parades, recep- 
tions, dinners — on the distinguished guests.^ The President was 

1 Some prominent Democrats in New York and Boston were still so bitter 
at the result of the Presidential coimt that they refused to meet the President 
or to participate in any of the attentions shown him. — At the banquet given by 
the city of Boston Oliver Wendell Holmes read the following poem: — 

TO R. B. H. 

How to address him? awkward, it is true; 

Call him "Great Father," as the Red Men do? 

Borrow some title? This is not the place 

That christens men "Your Highness" and "Your Grace"; 

We tried such names as these awhile, you know. 

But left them off a century ago. 

"His Majesty"? We've had enough of that: 
Besides that needs a crown; he wears a hat. 
What if to make the nicer ears content 
We say "His Honesty, the President"? 

Sir, we believed you honest, truthful, brave. 
When to your hands their precious trust we gave, 
And we have found you better than we knew, 
Braver, and not less honest, not less true! 
So every heart has opened, every hand 
Tingles with welcome, and through all the land 
All voices greet you in one broad acclaim, 
Healer of Strife! Has earth a nobler name? 

What phrases mean you do not need to learn; 
We must be civil and they serve our turn: 
"Y'our most obedient humble" means — means what? 
Something the well-bred signer just is not. 



242 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

frequently called upon to speak, but on these first visits he con- 
fined himself rigidly to the briefest possible acknowledgment of 
the courtesies he received. His reticence, while the public prints 
w^ere ringing with discussion — effusive praise and bitter denun- 
ciation — of his treatment of the South, was variously inter- 
preted according as men were friendly or hostile to his course. It 
was his idea that his actions should be allowed to speak for them- 
selves, so far as he was concerned, let men discuss them as they 
might; and that on public occasions, in which men of every polit- 
ical faith were participating, political topics were to be avoided. 
In August a trip was made to Bennington, Vermont, to attend 
the centennial celebration of the Revolutionary battle at that 
point, when the heroic deeds of Stark and his Green Mountain 
boys were glowingly set forth in speech and verse. After the cele- 
bration was over, Mr. Hayes visited the old home of his father 
at Brattleboro, and was entertained by Secretary Evarts at his 
Windsor country home. Then a trip for the President's party 
through the White Mountains and to the prmcipal towns m New 
Hampshire was planned. This lasted several days, ending at 
Worcester, Massachusetts, the home of Attorney-General Dev- 
ens. Everywhere the party was greeted with popular ovations, 
and at every stop the President addressed the people, urging a 
larger spirit of fraternity and conciliation and national unity. 
At first his kindly sentiments were rather coldly received, for the 
mass of New England Republicans doubted the good faith of 
Southern protestations and looked with disfavor on the Presi- 
dent's course in Louisiana and South Carolina. But the earnest- 
ness and candor of the President, the speeches in support of his 
utterances by members of his Cabinet and especially by Post- 
master-General Key, and the approval by the general public of 
his words as these were published broadcast, all had effect; and 

Yet there are tokens, sir, you must believe; 
There is one language never can deceive; 
The lover knew it when the maiden smiled; 
The mother knows it when she clasps her child; 
Voices may falter, trembling lips turn pale; 
Words grope and stumble; this will tell their tale 
Shorn of all rhetoric, bare of all pretense. 
But radiant, warm, with Nature's eloquence. 
Look in our ej'es! Your welcome waits you there — 
North, South, East, West, from all and everywhere! 

O. W. H. 
June 26, 1877. 



NEW ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH 243 

the later speeches of the trip evoked enthusiastic applause. ^ The 
keynote of all his speeches was struck most clearly at Plymouth, 
on the second day in New Hampshire, when he said : — 

If there is any sentiment that has guided what we have done, it has 
been for a common nationality. It has been our desire to do something 
for the people of all the States. We have felt that war should end, and 
that peace should spread through all our borders. We hope, as a result 
of this, that men shall no longer be said to belong to the States of Louisi- 
ana, Maine, or Iowa, but be citizens of a common country. Beyond 
these questions of general good, there are questions on which all may 
differ. There are differences about policy and means of accomphshing 
the desired end, but we do believe that all good people everywhere de- 
sire reconciliation; that the laws are to be obeyed, and that the rights of 
each and every citizen should be respected, whatever his race or color. 
That being done, we may be citizens not of a county or State, but of a 
free and united country. It is because I believe you desire this that I 
see you gathered here together, Democrats, Republicans, and Inde- 
pendents. It is my hope that at the close of my Administration we may 
say, as Jefferson said, "We are no longer Federalists and no longer 
Republicans, but now we are all Federalists and Repubhcans"; and so 
to-night, for this night at least, let us say that we are all Democrats and 
all Republicans and better than that, all Americans. 

^ " At first the receptions were rather cool. The people were a little suspicious 
of this new Administration. On one side, they had been told by the politicians 
that it had surrendered to the South; on the other, that it was counted in by 
fraud. But the more they saw of the President and his Cabinet, the more they 
liked them. The patriotic little speeches, devoid of partisanship, ran ahead of 
the party on the wires and served as letters of introduction and commendation, 
and with them went accoimts of the President's manly, unpretending bearing; 
his magnetic presence; his evident sincerity; and his hearty, cheerful way of 
meeting and greeting people. The crowds grew more and more demonstrative 
as the journey lengthened. WTiatever prepossessions they had brought concern- 
ing his course as President, and whether they were Republicans or Democrats, 
they could not help liking the man. As far down as Concord, however, the audi- 
ence that assembled to hear the speeches was not enthusiastic, but the Presi- 
dent's simple platform of fraternal feeling between all sections and equal rights 
for all citizens won its way. There was no resisting the patriotism and good sense 
of that sentiment. He repeated it on all occasions until he fairly pressed it into 
the hearts of the people through all casings of misgiving and prejudice. The 
evening demonstration at Concord far siu-passed that of the day, and the same 
idea of peace and good will, which was dominant in every speech the President 
made on the whole journey, was then rapturously applauded. After that, all 
doubt seemed to vanish from the popular mind. At Manchester a wave of 
spontaneous approbation greeted the sentiments of reconciliation and fidelity 
to the Constitution; at Nashua the current ran still higher, and at Worcester 
it was a torrent of genuine enthusiasm." (E. V. Smalley, stafiF correspondent, 
New YorkJ'ribune, August 24, 1877.) 



244 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

At Concord, New Hampshire, the following day he said: — 

I thought that it was not altogether proper in meeting this people 
that I should talk politics to them; men of all parties have met me; 
Democrats, Republicans, and Independent Republicans — Republicans 
that are satisfied and Repubhcans that are dissatisfied [applause and 
laughter]; and really I feel, by the way that laugh comes in, that that is 
a pretty large crowd here [laughter]. But at any rate, we are here not to 
talk politics, and it does not seem proper to me that one in my situation 
should argue as to the measures he thinks proper to pursue. "\Miat you 
want in tliis country as an Executive is one that shall execute. That I 
believe to be his duty, and all that I want of my countrymen is that 
charitable judgment that is proper to be given by men among men, look- 
ing each other in the face, who believe that upon the whole the man they 
are looking in the face, whether he is right or wrong, after all means to 
be right. [Cries of "Good " and applause.] It is not a good thing to say 
of a man that his intentions are good, — and there is a proverb that a 
very bad place is paved with good intentions [laughter] ; and yet, after 
all, among this people the man that has the confidence of the people that 
he has good intentions has gained something, and perhaps I had better 
stop here and call upon some other — [cries of "Go on" ]. Well, then, 
there is only one other thing, and that is that up here in New Hamp- 
shire, as in Ohio and every other State, you desire the Union to be a real 
union ["Amen!"] — union of hearts, union of hands. You woidd wish 
to have the entire Union secure, not merely by force, but by all the 
affections of the people in all parts of the country. [Applause.] Now, 
while we have had in the past distrust between sections, alienation and 
the hostility of bad blood, I believe, nevertheless, that with the cause 
removed, the old harmony and concord may return [cries of "Good"]; 
and I believe it w^ill return ; and I believe in adopting measures that will 
make it return speedily. [Applause, and cries of "Good."] Then I do 
not see but in the main we agree as to the most needful thing to be done, 
and our only difference is upon the measures by which we are to accom- 
plish that end ; and this I must decline altogether to discuss. [Laughter.! 

And at Worcester, IMassachusetts, two days later : — 

You entertain very decided opinions as to the course the Government 
shall pursue; as to who shall administer it. There is a wide diversity of 
opinion as to the precise measures of the Government; but there are a 
few things I have acquired the habit of saying, since our trip through 
New England began, upon which the whole people of the United States 
are substantially agreed. We are all agreed that hereafter, and for all 
time, the territory of the United States, embracing as it does the best 
part of the continent, extending from the torrid zone on the south to the 
frigid zone on the north; from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the 
Pacific on the west, is forever hereafter to belong to one nation and to 
one nation only. We are all agreed that all the States of the Union 



f; 



NEW ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH 245 

shall have equal rights; that every State is equal to each other; that all 
citizens of the United States, black or white, native-born or naturalized, 
capitalists or laborers, shall have equal rights before the law, and that 
the Government of the people shall continue to be ever supreme over 
all. These are general ideas entertained about the Government. There 
are differences as to the methods, and whatever errors may be made you 
will remember that it is our purpose honestly to piu-sue a course in sup- 
port of the propositions I have offered you.^ 

Two weeks after the return from New England the President 
set out on a trip to Ohio and the South, again accompanied by 
members of his family and Cabinet officers, A day was spent at 
Marietta, where a reunion of old soldiers was in progress. Here 
the President spoke in the same vein as in New England, winning 
loud applause when he said : — 

All who are familiar with the history of our country know that a 
hundred years ago there was no North, no South. The fathers were one 
throughout the whole country. Washington and Jefferson were side 
by side with Franklin and Adams. Daniel Morgan and his Virginians 
marched from Virginia to Boston. They were at Saratoga; and Na- 
thanael Greene and his Continentals were in the Carolinas. The whole 
country elonged to the fathers. It is to that state of harmony, of fra- 
ternal friendship, that we desire our country to return. We are for the 
Union as it is. W^e are for the Constitution as it is, with all its Amend- 
ments. We want the citizens of every State to feel at home in every other 
State. If a citizen of Vermont travels to Georgia or Texas, for business 
or pleasure, we want him to feel at home in those States. If a citizen of 
Texas or Georgia travels North, we want that citizen to feel at home 
everywhere throughout the Union. 

We may make mistakes in method, mistakes in measures; but the 
sentiment we would encourage is a sentiment of nationality throughout 
the Union. We all regard the service of that four years' war; we regard 
that period of four years as the most interesting of our lives. We fought 
then, those of us who were in the Union army, as we believed, to make 
this forever hereafter a united people, forever hereafter a free people; 
and we rejoice, to-day, to believe that those who were against us in that 
struggle, now are with us on both of these questions, and will forever 
remain with us on both of these questions. 

^ "After four days in Vermont and four in New Hampshire, and a rousing 
evening in Worcester, we are home again in good health and spirits. The people 
seemed pleased. My speeches were wholly mipremeditated — not, therefore, 
very satisfactory to myself; rather slovenly and ill-constructed. I tried to im- 
press the people with the importance of harmony between different sections, 
States, classes, and races, and to discourage sectionalism and race and class 
prejudice." (Diary, August 27, 1877.) 



246 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 



From Marietta the President and his family went on to Fre- 
mont to spend a few days at home. This stay was interrupted by 
a visit to Dayton to assist in the unveiHng of the soldiers' monu- 
ment at the National Soldiers' Home.^ Besides the old soldiers a 
vast concourse of people gathered for the ceremony. After pull- 
ing the cord which released the canvas enshrouding the monu- 
ment, the President contrasted that impressive work of art with 
the rude memorials which alone in war-time could be used to 
mark the graves of soldiers that fell in battle; adding: — 

Instead of that little fragment, perishable and fragile, we have these 
enduring monuments forever to gaze upon. How glorious the change! 
Does it not remind us of the growth in the sentiment of all mankind, of 
the appreciation of the work that these men did? Then we hardly knew 
what was to be the result of it all, but now we know that these men were 
fighting the battle of freedom for all mankind. Now we know that they 
have saved to liberty and to peace the best part of the best continent 
on the globe. As this work compares with the frail cracker-box memo- 
rials, so does the work which they have done compare with any concep- 
tion of it which we then could have had. Forever hereafter we shall 
remember the American private soldier as having established a free 
nation where every man has an equal chance and a fair start in the race 
of life. This is the work of the American private soldier, and as that 
monument teaches many lessons let us not forget this one. 

Two or three days later the President's old regiment, the 
Twenty-third Ohio, held a reunion at Fremont ^ which filled the 

1 The President was entertained at Dayton at the home of his old friend, 
R. C. Anderson, from the steps of whose house, it will be remembered, in the 
dark days after the election the year before, he made the reassuring spe^ech to the 
throng of citizens that came to serenade him. On this occasion likewise he was 
serenaded, and spoke briefly, recalling the former speech and saying: "We want 
oiu- nation to be a nation of love and peace, in which all will obey the Constitu- 
tion as it is, with all its Amendments securing to all men equal rights; not be- 
cause we have the power to enforce it, but because it is the will of the people 
that it shall be so. This is the spirit in which I desire the Government shall be 
administered." 

2 Before returning to Fremont the President journeyed to Richmond, In- 
diana, to call on Senator Morton, who had been mortally stricken a few weeks 
before and was soon to hear the final summons. The President was deeply af- 
fected when he saw the helpless invalid and bent over and kissed his forehead. 
The interview was brief, the Senator expressing his gratification at the visit and 
assuring the President that he should be well enough to be in the Senate in 
December when he should give the Administration earnest support. But the 
end came November 1 . Before that time he had sufficiently rallied to return 
to his home at Indianapolis. His last expression on public affairs was a vigorous 
letter, published in the Indianapolis Journal on October 23, urging RepubUcaos 



I 



NEW ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH 247 

town with visitors, among whom were many distinguished men 
— Chief Justice Waite, Lieutenant-General Sheridan, Secretary 
McCrary, Generals Cox, Rosecrans, Scammon, and others. 
President Hayes presided at the meeting in the public square, 
when Major McKinley, the orator of the day, eloquently re- 
counted the services of the famous regiment,^ and General Sheri- 
dan added a word in testimony of its "merits and gallantry." 
Short speeches were made by the other men of note present, and 
after the exercises were over the members of the regiment and 
their guests marched to Spiegel Grove, where Mrs. Hayes served 
them with supper, while old friendships were renewed and battles 
were fought over again. 

The next day (Saturday, September 15) Mr. Hayes and his 
party journeyed to Cincinnati, being greeted at every town where 
the train stopped by throngs of people eager to see and hear the 
President. Cincinnati, brilliantly decorated and illuminated, 
welcomed its famous former townsman with a great public recep- 
tion. Dr. Max Lilienthal, in his address of welcome, speaking of 
what the President had already accomplished for the unity of the 
country, said: "The sword is sheathed, and you stand before the 
nation, oflfering all the laurel of peace, brotherly love, and mutual 
good-will. The nation at large is with you; the nation applauds 
you." Mr. Hayes in his reply was glad to find in the greeting of 
his old neighbors evidence that his policy of conciliation met with 
popular approval; glad to assure his hearers that there were signs 
of returning prosperity. Continuing, he said: — 

We do not claim for any Administration the advantages that come 
to the country from good crops; but, my friends, it seems to me that we 
may ask some approval from our fellow citizens if we have placed a large 
part of our country in a condition to give their full attention to the 

not to break with the President because of his Southern and civil service 
policies. The President, in ordering the executive oflSces closed on the day of the 
funeral, said of Morton: "In all things and at all times he has been able, strenu- 
ous, and faithful in the public service, and his fame with his countrymen rests 
upon secure foundations." 

^ Of the President Major McKinley said: "The surviving members of his old 
regiment receive him with boundless cordiality, with the highest affection and 
most genuine respect, and now, as always, rejoice most heartily in the high 
honors which, unsought, have come to him, and which none know so well as we 
how worthily he will wear, and how wisely and conscientiously he will discharge 
every duty which they impose." 



248 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

raising of crops. As long as discontent with the Government and with 
their fellow citizens of the North existed in the Southern States, we all 
know that politics would receive more attention than business. But now 
I think I am authorized to say to you that the whole Southern coun- 
try begins to think more of industry, of improvements, of business, than 
of politics. No part of our country can lack prosperity without affecting 
the prosperity of the whole country, and the prosperity of one section is 
the prosperity of all sections. It is with ideas like these that we enter 
upon the work of pacification. It has been my good fortune, during the 
last ten days, to be present at three great soldiers' reunions — soldiers of 
the North — and passing among them, and gathering their opinion, I 
found that, one and all, they are ready to come again to the ancient 
friendship and harmony with the South, upon the sole basis of a cordial 
recognition of, and obedience to, the Constitution as it now is, with all its 
recent Amendments. 

I feel upon this subject that I am treading in the pathway marked 
out by the fathers as they stood, shoulder to shoulder and side by side — 
men of the North and men of the South; and I wish to see the day within 
the next three or four years when again all causes of dissension will, hke 
slavery, be removed forever, and when once more the ancient concord 
and friendship will be restored. [Loud and prolonged cheering.] This is 
my hope; this is my ambition — to do something to promote and ad- 
vance this great purpose. When you approve of that, my fellow citizens, 
you approve what I am trying to do. 

Sunday was spent quietly at the home of the President's old 
friend, Dr. John Davis. Monday morning the journey was made 
to Louisville, attended by a committee of representative citizens 
of Kentucky that had been sent on to escort the President's 
party. ^ The chairman of this committee was W. N. Haldeman, 
president of the Courier-Journal, whose brilliant editor, Henry 
Watterson, eight months before was declaring that he would 
lead a hundred thousand Kentuckians to Washington to inaugu- 
rate Tilden. Now Democratic Kentucky was ready to outdo 
Republican Ohio in the cordiality of its welcome to Mr. Hayes. 
Nothing that Southern hospitality could suggest was omitted in 
the attentions paid to the illustrious visitors in their two days 
at Louisville. In his speech of welcome the Reverend Stuart 

' In the party were the President and Mrs. Hayes and their two sons Birchard 
and Webb; Miss Piatt and Miss McFarland; Secretary Evarts and two daughters 
and son; Messrs. Schurz, McCrary, and Key; Governor Van Zandt, of Rhode 
Island, and Governor Matthews, of West Virginia; besides newspaper corre- 
spondents and committee men. At Louisville Governor Wade Hampton, of South 
Carolina, joined the party. 



RECONCILIATION 249 

Robinson declared that he voiced the feeling of all intelligent 
Kentuckians, regardless of party, in giving, "besides the for- 
mal official welcome, the warm welcome of the heart" to the 
Chief Magistrate who had won the confidence and esteem of 
the South "by his firm and steadfast determination to rise 
above all partisan considerations and be the President of the 
whole country." 

The President in his reply spoke of the ancient friendship be- 
tween Ohio and Kentucky; of the estrangement that came about 
and the war that ensued, due to a cause for which neither State 
was responsible and which neither alone could remove, and then 
proceeded : — 

The true history of Ohio and Kentucky is an epitome of all the rest of 
the country ; and now when the cause is removed, whatever the hostil- 
ity, whatever the prejudice, whatever the estrangement, let them also be 
removed. [Applause.] 

I have been fellow soldiers, during the last few days, among the sol- 
diers of the Union, and the men more early to come together after the 
great division are those who made the acquaintance of one another on 
the field of carnage. I have found it true on the other side of the river, 
and I have found it true here in Kentucky. . . . Oh, we have come 
together. [Applause.] The demonstration in Louisville tells the whole 
story. I need not shout myself hoarse before this great audience, mak- 
ing a speech about the happiness and peace that we are now enjoying 
in all sections of the Union. This demonstration has made the speech 
of the occasion. Nothing can be added to it. I think we can confidently 
look forward to fraternal union on the basis of the Constitution as it 
now is, with all the Amendments. 

My friends, my Confederate friends, do you intend to obey the whole 
Constitution and Amendments? [Applause.] I thought you would. I 
beheve you will, and that removes the last cause of dissension between 
us. I look forward happily to the realization of the bright vision of a 
popular English author when he said, "I see a vast confederacy stretch- 
ing from the frozen North to the glowing South, from the white billows 
of the Atlantic to the calm waters of the Pacific main, that would con- 
tain one people, one language, and one faith, and everywhere a home for 
freemen, and a refuge of every race and of every clime to come together." 
[Great applause.] 

All the other speeches by members of the Cabinet and Gover- 
nors breathed the same spirit of reconciliation and fraternity. 
Notable among them was the speech of Governor Hampton, 
whom the President introduced as "a noble and patriotic man," 



250 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

and who was received with tumultuous applause as he com- 
mended the President for having "risen high enough to be able 
to say that he serves his party best who serves his country best — 
a sentiment which ought to find a response in the breast of every 
patriotic American." 

From Louisville the party passed on to Nashville, Chatta- 
nooga, Knoxville, Atlanta, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville. 
Everywhere along the route people thronged to the stations to 
welcome and applaud the travellers. At the cities named the 
scenes at Louisville were repeated, the enthusiasm and warmth 
of welcome increasing with every new demonstration. The 
North observed with incredulity and pleased surprise, till at last 
it began to dawn upon the public consciousness that bygones 
were actually being treated as bygones, that men were ceasing to 
dwell upon the past and were fixing their eyes on the future,^ and 
that a common feeling of nationality was penetrating the hearts 
of the people of all sections. Governor Porter at Nashville de- 
clared that Tennessee paid homage to the President because of 
gratitude to him "for bringing peace to the country." Governor 
Colquitt, of Georgia, welcomed the President to Atlanta as the 
"peacemaker between brethren estranged." "If the agencies," 
he went on, "which lately brought forty millions of people into 
fearful and unhappy conflict excited the attention of the whole 
world, the moral purpose, the firm will of the fortunate Magis- 
trate who is first to control and calm the spirit which raised this 
mighty strife, will attract the admiration and plaudits of the good 
everywhere on earth where good will to man prevails." 

Mr. Hayes's speech at Atlanta was the climax of all the kindly 
expressions that he had made on Southern soil, though it was 
the same in its general trend of thought. The more significant 
paragraphs were: — 

I suppose that here, as everywhere else, I am in the presence of men 
of both great poHtical parties. I am speaking, also, in the presence of 
citizens of both races. I am quite sure that there are before me very 
many of the brave men who fought in the Confederate army [applause]; 

* As Wade Hampton said in his speech at Chattanooga: " If not forgetting the 
past, at least drawing a curtain over it, looking not at the bloody past, which is 
full of sorrow to all of us, but looking forward to a brighter and higher future, 
when all of us can march on bravely, honestly, truthfully, each one doing his 
duty to the whole country, leaving the consequences to God." 



RECONCILIATION 251 

some, doubtless, of the men who fought in the Union army. [Applause.] 
And here we are, Republicans, Democrats, colored people, white people. 
Confederate soldiers, and Union soldiers, all of one mind and one heart 
to-day! [Immense cheering.] And why should we not be.'' WTiat is 
there to separate us longer.^ Without any fault of yours or any fault of 
mine, or of any one of this great audience, slavery existed in this coun- 
try. It was in the Constitution of the country. The colored man was 
here, not by his own voluntary action. It was the misfortune of his 
fathers that he was here. I think it is safe to say that it was by the crime 
of our fathers that he was here. He was here, however, and we of the 
two sections diflfered about what should be done with him. As Mr. Lin- 
coln told us in the war, there were prayers on both sides for him. Both 
sides found in the Bible confirmation of their opinions, and both sides 
finally undertook to settle the question by that last final means of arbi- 
tration — force of arms. You here mainly joined the Confederate side, 
and fought bravely, risked your lives heroically in behalf of your convic- 
tions ; and can I, can any true man anywhere, fail to respect the man who 
risks his life for his convictions.^ [Prolonged cheers.] And as I accord 
that respect to you, and believe you to be equally liberal and generous 
and just, I feel that, as I stand before you as one who fought in the Union 
army for his convictions, I am entitled to your respect. [Cheers.] Now 
that conflict is over, my friends. 

Governor Hampton repeated to you last night the way in which I have 
been in the habit of putting it since I came to the South. There was 
a larger proportion of trained soldiers in your army at first than in 
ours; in a much larger proportion you were good marksmen and good 
horsemen — and that is two thirds of a good soldier. [Laughter.] 
But gradually we learned to ride, too [laughter]; and, as some of you 
know, gradually we learned to shoot. [Renewed laughter.] I happen 
to know how well you shdot. [Cheers.] Well, having learned how to 
ride and shoot, then it was a case of fight between Greek and Greek; 
and when Greek meets Greek you know what the conflict is; and more 
than that, you know exactly how it will terminate. That party in that 
fight will always conquer that has the most Greeks. [Laughter and 
cheers.] So, with no discredit to you and no special credit to us, the 
war turned out as it did. [Cheers.] 

Now, shall we quit fighting.? [Cries of "Yes, yes!"] I have been in 
the habit of telling an anecdote of General Scott and a statesman at 
Washington, in which the statesman said that as soon as the war was 
over and the combatants laid down their arms, we should have complete 
peace. "No," said General Scott, "it will take several years in which 
all the powers of the general Government will be employed in keeping 
peace between the belligerent non-combatants!" [Laughter.] Now, I 
think, we have'got through with that [cheers], and having peace between 
the soldiers and the non-combatants, that is an end of the war. Is there 
any reason, then, whj^ we should not be at peace forevermore? We are 
embarked upon the same voyage, upon the same ship, under the same 



252 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

old flag. Good fortune or ill fortune affects you and your children as well 
as my people and my children. [Cheers.] 

Every interest you possess is to be promoted by peace. Here is this 
great city of Atlanta, gathering to itself from all parts of the country its 
wealth and business by its railroads ; and I say to you that every descrip- 
tion of industry and legitimate business needs peace. That is what cap- 
ital wants. Discord, discontent, and dissatisfaction are the enemies of 
these enterprises. Then, all our interests are for peace. Are we not agreed 
about that.'* What do we want for the future? I believe it is the duty 
of the general Government to regard equally and alike the interests and 
rights of all sections of this country. [Cheers.] I am glad that you agree 
with me about that. I believe, further, that it is the duty of the Govern- 
ment to regard alike and equally the rights and interests of all classes of 
citizens. [Cheers.] That covers the whole matter. That wipes out in 
the future in our politics the section line forever. [Cheers.] Let us wipe 
out in our politics the color line forever. [Cheers.] 

And let me say a word upon what has been done. I do not undertake 
to discuss or defend particular measures. I leave the people with their 
knowledge of the facts to examine, discuss, and decide for themselves as 
to them. I speak of general considerations and notions. What troubles 
our people at the North, what has troubled them, was that they feared 
that these colored people, who had been made freemen by the war, would 
not be safe in their rights and interests in the South unless it was by the 
interference of the general Government. Many good people had that 
idea. I had given that matter some consideration, and now, my colored 
friends, who have thought, or who have been told, that I was turning my 
back upon the men whom I fought for, now, listen ! After thinking over 
it, I believed that your rights and interests would be safer if this great 
mass of intelligent white men were let alone by the general Government. 
[Immense enthusiasm and cheering for several minutes.] And now, my 
colored friends, let me say another thing. We have been trying it for 
these six months, and, in my opinion in no six months since tlie war have 
there been so few outrages and invasions of your rights, nor you so se- 
cure in your rights, persons, and homes, as in the last six months. [Great 
cheering.] 

Then, my friends, we are all together upon one proposition. We be- 
lieve, and in this all those who are here agree, in the Union of our fa- 
thers, in the old flag of our fathers, the Constitution as it is with all its 
Amendments, and are prepared to see it fully and fairly obeyed and 
enforced. [Cheers.] Now, my friends, I see it stated occasionally that 
President Hayes has taken the course he has because he was compelled 
to it. [Voices — "We don't believe it!"] Now, I was compelled to it. 
[Applause.] I was compelled to it by my sense of duty under my oath of 
oflBce. [Intense enthusiasm and cheers.] What was done by us was 
done, not merely ))y force of special circumstances, but because it was 
just and right to do it. [Cheers.] 

Now, let us come together. Let each man make up his mind to be a 



RECONCILIATION 253 

patriot in his own home and place. You may quarrel about the tariff, get 
up a sharp contest about the currency, about the removal of state cap- 
itals and where they shall go to [laughter], but upon the great question 
of the Union of the States and the rights of all the citizens, we shall 
agree forevermore. 

There was no mistaking the enthusiasm which these senti- 
ments of the President evoked. " It was plain to one on the plat- 
form, looking in the eyes of the multitude, that the people liked 
his face and manner to begin with; and before he had spoken a 
dozen sentences there could be no doubt that they liked his 
speech, for their applause was unmistakably spontaneous and 
earnest." ^ 

In his last speech on the trip, that at Charlottesville, the Presi- 
dent rejoiced that everywhere in the States through which he 
had passed he had found "growing and increasing sentiments in 
behalf of the Union, the Constitution, and the Administration 
which regard alike the interests and rights of every section and 
every State; which regard alike and equally all classes, without 
distinction of race or color. The equality under the laws of all 
citizens," he continued, "is the corner-stone of the structure of 
restored harmony from which ancient friendship is to rise. In 
this pathway I am going, the pathway where your illustrious 
men led — your Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and your Wash- 
ington. Our hope is that the people of the whole country will 
unite to reconcile the feeling which prevailed when the Union was 
formed. We wish to see what the fathers gave us preserved and 
transmitted to those who come after." 

Major Bickham, of the Dayton Journal, who accompanied the 
party with many misgivings, returned to write glowingly of the 
"amazing journey." "It was more in the nature of a triumphal 
march," he declared, "celebrating the reestablishment of peace 
and good will, than anything else with which I can compare it; 
and the President deported himself with a dignity, ability, seK- 
possession, and manliness that was deeply gratifying to those 
who know him well. I believe that the President's Southern tour 
will prove vastly beneficial to the country. It has already estab- 
lished a better feeling, and has opened wide the gates to perma- 
nent pacification." - 

^ Staff correspondence New York Trihune, September 24, 1877. 
_* The impression made by this long Southern excursion was deepened a month 



254 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

It is true, of course, that all sectional bitterness and mutual 
distrust, misunderstanding and recrimination between North 
and South did not cease. The causes were too deep-seated, the 
conditions were of too long duration, to be removed or reformed 
except by slow and patient processes. It seemed for the moment, 
when all the country was stirred by the patriotic eloquence of the 
Southern leaders in their welcoming speeches and by the enthu- 
siasm of the popular greetings to the President, that North and 
South were already completely reconciled. The event proved 
that this was far from the fact. Its realization was delayed un- 
doubtedly by the activities of foolish or selfish poHticians, as well 
as by the outbreaks of violence and terrorism which the desper- 
ate exigencies of local politics were supposed in parts of the 
South to justify. But the attitude INIr. Hayes assumed and 
maintained toward the South; the large and liberal and benevo- 
lent spirit in which he met the Southern people and discussed 
their relations to the general Government; the sympathy, the 
patience, the confidence he displayed in dealing with sensitive, 
high-spirited, and easily offended Southern leaders, — all this, 
while it did not, as Mr. Hayes had fondly hoped it might, make a 
breach in the political solidity of the South, exercised vast and 
permanent influence in easing the asperities of mutual intercourse 
and discussion of the two sections, in bringing about a far better 
understanding of each other, and in turning the thoughts of the 
country more and more away from the issues of the war to the 
new problems that were pressing for solution. 

later by a visit of the President and members of the Cabinet to Richmond, 
Virginia, when the greatest cordiaHty and good feehng were displayed, and the 
orators of the two sections vied with each other in patriotic utterances. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

AMONG THE PEOPLE; THE NORTHWEST — AN HONEST DOLLAR 

NUMEROUS short trips were made by the President in the 
following year to attend civic gatherings or celebrations 
of one sort or another. The most notable of these was his visit to 
Gettysburg to take part in the Memorial Day exercises of May 
30. He was attended by many Congressmen and high officers 
of the army and of the executive departments. General Butler 
was the orator of the day, and undaunted by a persistent shower 
of rain he spoke most eloquently of the services of the private 
soldier. Then, with the rain still descending, the President made 
this brief speech : — 

Fellow Citizens, — The battle of Gettysburg will probably always be 
regarded as the battle which did more than any other to determine the 
result of the great Civil War in the United States. The honored dead 
who fought and perished here will therefore be forever held in special 
and grateful remembrance. The great martyr of the conflict was Abra- 
ham Lincoln. He, by his immortal words spoken here, has indissolubly 
linked his name, fame, and memory with the battle of Gettysburg. 
Lincoln gave his life, and the brave men who responded to his call gave 
their lives, for the Union, for hberty, and for a stable constitutional 
government. They beheved that our institutions were equal to any 
emergency, and that they ought to be maintained at the cost of prop- 
erty or of life. If our assembling in this place shall fitly honor the men 
we now wish remembered with gratitude, it will be because, beholding 
these scenes and contemplating the example of the heroes who made 
Gettysburg illustrious, we shall be able to estimate more wisely the 
value of our country and of her institutions and be better prepared for 
the duties which, under Providence, have devolved upon us. Let us 
here give heed to the words of Abraham Lincoln; let us "here highly 
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that tliis nation, 
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government 
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth." 

A month later the President with a numerous party went to 
Wyoming, Pennsylvania, where, on July 3, the centennial an- 
niversary of the Wyoming massacre was commemorated by a 



256 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

great outpouring of people. Mr. Hayes made a short speech, in 
which he said : — 

To-day's celebration is peculiar. It is not the celebration of a vic- 
tory; it is a pioneer celebration, commemorative of the virtues of the 
men and women who reclaimed the wilderness. Every part of the coun- 
try has its pioneer history. All had similar disasters. And to-day in 
Dakota and Arizona, and on the borders of Texas, the people arc having 
like experiences. The virtues and hardihood of Wyoming are the virtues 
that we celebrate to-day; and the lesson of this day is that the pioneer 
settlers should be protected. 

Indians have been led by bad white men, and war has sometimes 
been inevitable. In all cases we want to see that settlers have sufficient 
military forces to protect them. The liistory of Wyoming has been re- 
peated for want of sufficient force to make war upon the savage suc- 
cessfully when it has become necessary to fight liim. These two points 
I wish to make: first, that the red man should be treated with justice; 
second, if war shall become necessary, there should be a power sufficient 
to protect the white man and compel the red man to submit to law and 
order. 

In September the most important trip of the year, and one of 
the most important of his entire term of office, was undertaken 
by the President. This was to Chicago and the Northwest as 
far as Fargo, North Dakota. The principal object of the journey 
was to speak at the Minnesota State Fair. But every town 
through which the President's party could pass was eager to see 
and hear the President, and the trip became a progress much like 
that of the autumn before through the South. Everywhere the 
President was received with the greatest popular enthusiasm, 
and every sort of official attention and public demonstration in 
his honor filled the time. The year before the President on all 
occasions had sought in his speeches to mollify the spirit of sec- 
tional animosity and to win wider approval of his conciliatory 
course in relation to the South. This year the country was in the 
midst of the congressional campaign. While business conditions 
had improved and the signs of returning prosperity were many, 
while the plans of the Administration for the approaching re- 
sumption of specie payments had brilliantly succeeded and the 
premium on gold had sunk almost to the vanishing point, men 
were still complaining of hard times, were fearful that resump- 
tion would be attended with further financial stringency, and 
were clamorous for more and cheaper money. In his speeches 



THE NORTHWEST — AN HONEST DOLLAR 257, 

this year, therefore, the President dwelt upon the improved 
condition of the public finances, upon the growing indications 
of returning prosperity ; and he proclaimed with all his old-time 
vigor the sound-money principles which he had always defended 
and had sought to have enforced. His statements of fact and 
his forceful arguments, couched in language that appealed to 
the average intelligence, and presented with the earnestness of 
conviction, had wide influence in allaying the fears and in stim- 
ulating the hopefulness of the country in regard alike to the Gov- 
ernment's financial stability and to the early return of prosperous 
conditions in the business and industrial world. 

Mr. Hayes set forth his views with greatest fulness and elab- 
oration in the carefully prepared speech which he delivered at 
the Minnesota State Fair at St. Paul (September 5). He began 
by saying: — 

I know very well that nothing which I can do or say will be a fitting 
and adequate return for your kindness, but I earnestly desire to say 
something touching the material interests of the country which will 
tend, at least, to encourage those who need encouragement, and to give 
increased hope to those who are already hopeful. 

The most interesting questions in public affairs which now engage the 
attention of the people of the United States are those which relate to 
the financial condition of the country. Since the financial panic and 
collapse five years ago, capital and labor and business capacity have 
found it hard to get profitable employment. We have had what is com- 
monly and properly known as hard times. In such times men naturally 
ask, \^^^at can be done? How long is this stagnation of business to last? 
Are there any facts which indicate an early return to better times? 
I wish to ask your attention for a few minutes while I present some facts 
and figures which show a progressive improvement in the financial con- 
dition of the general Government. It will be for you to consider what 
inferences may fairly be drawn as to their bearing on the question of a 
revival of business prosperity tlu-oughout the country. 

The financial condition of the Government of the United States is 
shown by its debt, its receipts and expenditures, the currency, and the 
state of trade with foreign countries. 

The President then set forth in detail the great reduction in 
the national debt, with the consequent diminution of the annual 
interest charge, the decrease in public expenditures and the low- 
ering of taxes, and the vast increase in foreign trade, the exports 
for the current year being the largest in the history of the coun- 
try. He proceeded: — 



258 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

As we have already seen, the balance of trade in the last three years 
in favor of the United States is $488,582,539, or an average of more than 
$160,000,000 a year. The balance of trade the last year, if compared 
with that of the two years next before the panic, shows a gain in favor 
of the United States, in one year, of over $400,000,000. 

It is not necessary that I should dwell on the importance of this 
favorable state of the balance of trade. Balances must be settled in 
cash — in the money of the world. The enterprises of our business men 
reach out to all parts of the world. Our agricultural and manufactured 
products more and more seek and find their markets in foreign coun- 
tries. The commerce of all parts of the world, bound together more 
than ever before by steamships, railroads, and the telegraph, is so con- 
nected that it must be conducted on the same principles and by the 
same instrumentalities by all who take part in it. 

We cannot if we would, we should not if we could, isolate ourselves 
from the rest of the commercial world. In all our measures for the im- 
provement of our financial condition we should remember that our in- 
creasing trade with South America and with the Old World requires 
that our financial system shall be based on principles whose soundness 
and wisdom are sanctioned by the universal experience and the general 
judgment of all mankind. With diminished and still diminishing public 
burdens of debt, expenditures, and interest, with an improved condi- 
tion of currency and foreign trade, we may well hope that we are on 
the threshold of better times. But we must not forget that the surest 
foundation of a restored financial prosperity is a sound constitutional 
currency and unstained national credit. 

There is another interesting subject that is worth giving attention 
to, and I think is encouraging and full of hope. The surplus population 
of the Atlantic slope of States are finding their way, as they have never 
done before, to the beautiful States and Territories at the West. And 
what does that mean? It means relief to the East. The surplus popu- 
lation that goes oflE gives a better opportunity for employment of labor 
and industry there and here, and in the new States they are making 
their homes, and they are furnishing them a market for the supplies 
from the old States. But it has more than double advantages. There 
are three advantages: It relieves the States, it furnishes a market to 
the old States, and with their products in the new States, they help to 
swell the tide of exports to the old countries. That's what this change 
of population means, and you know much more about it than I do. You 
have lived here and seen it. . . . 

Now, my friends, with this picture, as I think, so full of hope for the 
future for you and me, as individuals, I do not venture with confidence 
upon predictions of prosperity reviving. I have no spirit of prophecy, 
but let us see how it stands. The debt is a great burden upon labor and 
capital. It is greatly diminished and is still diminishing. Taxation is 
a great burden on labor and capital, and it is greatly diminished and 
still diminishing. So, too, as to the expenses of the Government; and 



THE NORTHWEST — AN HONEST DOLLAR 259 

then with that which helps us — a sound currency — and immigration 
coming, may I not confidently say that these are indications at least 
that we are marching to the threshold of reviving general business 
prosperity? [Great applause.] 

And now, shall we look around for a new way to pay old debts, or 
shall we march in the paths marked out by the fathers — the paths of 
honesty, of industry, of economy? Shall we do what Washington and 
Franklin would advise? That is the question before the people to-day, 
my friends. I enter upon no argument upon a disputed question, but 
I say as my opinion — we may be mistaken, all of us; but I believe 
that a restored financial condition depends upon an honest currency. 
{Great applause.] And why do I say this? The commerce of the world 
is the commerce now in which we are taking part, and that is the same 
thing the globe around. We have with us to-day the gentleman who is 
at the head of the signal service of the United States. He is known 
popularly as "Old Probabilities." ^ [Great laughter.] He is not old, 
and I fear he is not always probable [renewed laughter], but certainly 
in the science of meteorology' he has gone further than any other, and 
what does he tell us? He says that this atmosphere of ours, this cir- 
cumambient air that surrounds the globe, is one, is a unit; and that they 
have discovered by observations all over the globe that a great commo- 
tion, a great disturbance, on any sea or any continent, sooner or later, 
is felt on every other sea and every other continent. And so the com- 
merce of the world is one. When there are very hard times in one great 
nation, sooner or later it goes clear around. We should then base our 
financial system on principles, and by instrumentalities that are sanc- 
tioned and approved by the best judgment of the whole commercial 
world. In conclusion, I repeat, if we want our standard of national 
prosperity to be based upon sure and safe foundations, let us remember, 
let us all remember, that its best security is an untarnished national 
credit and a sound constitutional currency. [Great and prolonged 
applause.] 

In his many subsequent speeches Mr. Hayes went over much 
the same ground, with variety of statement and illustrations and 
with constantly increasing stress on the folly of dealing with the 
finances and monetary system of the country except in accord- 
ance with the universal and imperative laws that determine and 
govern value. At IVIadison, Wisconsin (September 10), after 
describing the Government's financial condition and the business 
prospects of the country, he went on in this vein: — 

May I talk a little of my own convictions as to remedies that are pro- 
posed for these hard times? I do not like to mingle in mere partisan 
discussions and I do not propose to; but I have some friends who tell 

^ Brigadier-General Albert J. Myer. 



260 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

me, and very good friends, too, — as I heard at my home, — that, 
after all, our trouble is that our currency is not cheap enough and that 
it will not stay at home. It goes abroad, and therefore they tell me that 
they want a currency that is so cheap that it is better for us than that 
costly currency, gold and silver, and of such quality that it will not go 
away. [Laughter.] Now, I say that that is a very desirable quality in 
currency. You have all found it so. If you can keep it, it is a good 
thing. Let us talk about that a little. First, the cheapness of the cur- 
rency. They tell me what they wish is this: The United States ought to 
say [the speaker holding up a piece of paper the size of a dollar bill], 
"This is One Dollar anywhere in the United States, by act of Congress " 
— a piece of paper about the size of that, probaljly. "Of course, we do 
not want it counterfeited." I am afraid it would not be a great while 
after it was issued that nobody would want to counterfeit it. [Laughter.] 
But, in order that it should be as good as possible, we would print it on 
good paper like a national bank note, or a greenback — good type, 
good-looking pictures on it, good engraving. And now what does it 
cost.'' They say they w^ant a cheap currency. What does that " dollar " 
cost? If we have a gold dollar, or a silver dollar, we know what it costs: 
it costs, take the world over, about a day's work or about a bushel of 
wheat; that is what each dollar costs. But what does the new currency 
cost, each dollar? Well, it costs rather less than a cent! That piece of 
paper, all pictured off nicely, ready for currency, costs about a cent. 
Now, that is a good operation. To make a dollar out of gold or silver 
will cost us a bushel of wheat or a day's work, but this dollar costs only 
the one hundredth part of a day's work, or of a bushel of wheat. That 
is a good operation. "We will do that; we will do that." But stop! Is 
that best? Let us see. Why, it don't cost any more to make that "two 
dollars" than "one dollar." [Laughter.] 

Then, were we not a little hasty only to make it "one"? We will 
make it "two," and it still costs only a cent. Now, my friends, don't 
you see that we made only ninety-nine cents on it before; now, we make 
a dollar and ninety-nine cents? But if we w^ould undertake to make two 
dollars out of gold and silver, it would take two days' work or two 
bushels of wheat. But it is just as cheap to make that "ten dollars." 
Let us make it ten dollars, then, and make nine dollars and ninety- 
nine cents in the operation. Instead of paying for it ten days' work or 
ten bushels of wheat, we will give just exactly the one hundredth part 
of a day's work for our ten-dollar bill. We are doing well, but not wisely, 
for we might just as well make it a hundred — it will cost no more; or 
a thousand — it will cost no more; and now we w-ill pay off our whole 
national debt with it, and that is what we want, they tell us. Why stop 
at that? Why not pay all the expenses of our Government with it and 
not tax the people at all? [Laughter.] Now, my friends, does n't it 
begin to dawn upon the simplest mind that there is some mistake about 
this? That that is inflation, and that inflation is nonsense? The real 
thing is what we want — no sham. 



THE NORTHWEST — AN HONEST DOLLAR 261 

But the friends say: "It will stay at home; it won't go abroad; good 
here, good nowhere else; therefore, it will stay here." Is that good? 
Let us see about that. Let us have the United States act upon that 
principle ; none of our money will be taken abroad — and so we will 
keep it. If that is good for the United States, would it not be well for 
Wisconsin? Wisconsin sends her money to New York and to New Eng- 
land and the big cities East. Why not keep it at home? Let Wisconsin 
make her own money in the same way, then; and if that is good for 
Wisconsin, why is it not good for Madison — not be sending ofif to 
Milwaukee and Chicago, and so on? Let Madison make her own money ! 
If it is good for Madison, why is n't it good for John Smith, the grocer? 
Let him make his own money: 'This is One Dollar. John Smith." 
He will never spend it; he can keep it; it will stay at home. [Great 
laughter.] 

No, no, my fellow citizens, the men who made the Constitution of 
the United States said: "Congress shall have power to coin money." 
Gold and silver are the money of the world and have been ever since 
the days of Abraham, and you cannot change it by legislation. Either 
that, or paper that will command that, is a sound constitutional cur- 
rency. 

Let us remember that with every day more and more our products 
of the soil and our products of the shop are going to Europe connecting 
us with the commerce of the world. We should conduct our financial 
system, then, on principles and instrumentalities such as the experi- 
ence of the world and the general judgment of the commercial world 
sanction, and we know what these are. We know how the commerce of 
the world is bound together. Anything seriously affecting any great 
nation soon affects all the others. This panic that has afflicted us has 
afflicted others also, clear around the globe. 

Now, my friends, let me say: The true need is, when we are marching 
steadily on to the tlireshold of better times, "Be wise enough to let well 
enough alone." [Applause.] What we want is a restoration of confi- 
dence. A restoration of confidence comes only with stability in legisla- 
tion and in conduct. Let us, then, try no new experiments, but march 
in the path marked out by the fathers. Let us say our restored financial 
prosperity shall rest upon a national credit unimpaired, without taint 
or stain, and upon a currency solid and constitutional — that defrauds 
no one. Let it be a currency such that honest capital — for there is 
honest capital and plenty of it; that honest business enterprise — for 
there is honest business enterprise; that honest labor — for there is 
honest labor, shall all have, also, honest money. [Cheers.] 

At Cliicago a few days later, before the Board of Trade, Mr. 
Hayes gave tliis sound advice : — 

We have passed through a period of business depression during the 
last five years. For more than a year past it has been my impression 



262 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

that the causes of that depression had gradually disappeared, and that 
indications of better times could be seen; and it is my impression to- 
day that that which has postponed a restoration of business activity 
in the country, during the last year or year and a half, has largely been 
not any real cause for depression, but a lack of confidence in the busi- 
ness community in the stability of legislation; that if, a year ago, there 
could have been among business men in this country everywhere con- 
fidence in what was to be the policy of the Government, I think we 
should have had better times to-day. Then, my friends, the few plain 
words I wish to say are these: — 

Let us now, let us for the coming, the immediate future, do all that 
we can to secure, to inspire, hope and confidence in the business com- 
munity. And if any instability of legislation, or the apprehension of 
instabihty in our legislation, is keeping us back, let us do all we can to 
see that those who are charged with legislation in this country have the 
wisdom to let the business of the country alone. [Applause.] 

Now, you and I, gentlemen, may not agree — we probably do not 
agree — hundreds of those present do not agree with me as to the wis- 
dom, for example, of the Resumption Act. Many of you would not have 
voted on that question as I would have voted; but it is now a thing of 
the past. We have gone through whatever of evil belongs to that act. 
We have come to a point where coin and paper are abreast of each 
other. Let us, then, for the remaining part of this transaction let well 
enough alone — not, by entering anew upon schemes untried, have 
another such period to go through. The gentleman associated with me 
in the Government who has especial charge of this matter — I allude 
to the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. John Sherman — has undertaken, 
as I think, to be square, and frank, and open with the business men of 
the country. You may not agree with liim, but this merit, it seems to 
me, may be claimed for him: He has had in this matter no secrets. 
What he was doing he has endeavored to inform the country about. 
He has been open with it; and so in the future, if I understand my own 
wish in the matter, it is that you may know exactly what to count upon; 
and this, in all business transactions, you understand better than I do, 
is more than half the battle. [Applause.] 

I do not propose, then, to say a word in favor of any other policy 
than this: Let us not undertake, in this important matter, to regulate 
the currency — to tinker it too much. Too much legislation on that 
subject, as, indeed, upon all other subjects, is one of the evils of our 
time in America. [Applause.] 

I leave off as I began. Let us see, in the gradual approach to the 
same standard of all the paper circulating as money in the United 
States, signs of hope. The march of events, if undisturbed, is plainly 
leading us on to better times. [Cheers.] 

Mr. Hayes and his family returned to Fremont September 14 
and remained there for the next ten days, though with visits to 



THE NORTHWEST— AN HONEST DOLLAR 263 

Willoughby, for the reunion of the Twenty-third Regiment, to 
Dayton for memorial services at the Soldiers' Home, and to 
Toledo, where, before an enormous crowd at the Tri-State Fair, 
the President once more expounded the sound-money views 
which had been the burden of his recent speeches.^ At no point 
was plain speaking more timely, as Toledo was deeply infected 
with the inflation madness. On the return journey to Washing- 
ton a stop was made at Pittsburg, where the President was made 
welcome with endless courtesies, public and private. Here the 
President declared that better times were approaching and 
pleaded for the maintenance of unsullied national credit. 

We have reached the point [he repeated] in the march of events when 
we may go forward and enter upon an era of good times; or we may by 
unwise conduct and unwise legislation postpone it. There are those who 
do not believe, as I did, that the Resumption Act was a good thing. 
But for good or evil we have gone on tlirough it. Whatever suffering 
it entailed we have suffered it; now shall we go over that desolate 
journey again, or shall we save what we have got.'* That is the question. 
In this condition of things as to all business interests, all manufacturing 
and commercial, I suggest whether it is not the highest wisdom to let 
well enough alone; not now to disturb legislation — not now to tinker. 
Some want a change as to tariff and some as to currency. This is no 
time for radical or extensive changes on either of these subjects. 

I wish to say, finally, that honest capital has needs and has rights, 
and there is honest capital. Honest business enterprise has rights and 
needs, and there is honest business enterprise. And honest labor has 
needs and rights, and there is an abundance of honest labor. Often 
to-day, as I went through those mills, and saw the men labor; as we 

1 The Cincinnati Enquirer introduced its report of the President's speech with 
these interesting headlines : — 

HAYES' HOBBY 



The Ugly Animal Again Trotted Out. 



Glorious Things Done for the Country 
by the Ruinous Resump- 
tion Policy. 



A Laborious Eflfort to Convince the People 

that Universal Bankruptcy is a 

Blessing in Disguise. 



264 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

travelled up the inclines; as we sailed on a tug up your river, and re- 
flected what results might attend defective or dishonest work in any of 
the various parts of the machinery, I realized what you must all realize 
— that our very lives depend on the honesty of labor ! I am sure I will 
say not one word that is not in strict accordance with its interest; and 
I give it as my opinion, finally, that nothing is more essentially in the 
interest of honest capital and honest business enterprise and honest 
labor — than Honest Money! ' 

October 9 the President paid a visit to Montpelier, the old 
home of Madison, in Orange County, Virginia. At Orange Court 
House, where his party ^ left the train, he was welcomed to 
Virginia by ex-Lieutenant- Governor Thomas. Colonel John 
Willis, a grand-nephew of Madison, welcomed the visitors to 
Montpelier and in response to his words of greeting, Mr. Hayes 
made the following speech: — H 

Ladies and Gentlemen, — It is a great gratification, indeed, to be so 
welcomed to the home of Madison. You have heard the beautiful ad- 
dress just delivered by the nearest survivor of James Madison, a man 
whose name will be held in grateful remembrance by the lovers of lib- 
erty and stable government as long as liberty and constitutional gov- 
ernment exist on earth. Madison having so linked his name and memory 
with the best law — the Constitution — the world has ever known, his 

1 "Upon the whole, the Western trip was the happiest and most useful trip yet 
made. It certainly strengthened my Administration and our greetings showed 
that we are already strong." (Diary, October 1, 1878.) 

2 The President was accompanied by Mrs. Hayes, Secretary Schurz, Attorney- 
General Devens, Mr. Rogers, Colonel Mosby, Miss Mosby, Edwin C. Marshall 
(only son of the famous Chief Justice), members of the committee of invitation 
and others. 

Mr. Hayes wrote of this visit in his diary (October 10) : " A crowd of people 
met us at Orange, and there was speaking. Our train of carriages on a fair Vir- 
ginia road reached the mansion in an hour. It was a satisfaction to find so ad- 
mirable a place. The house large, with piazza and tall large pillars, like — some- 
what — Arlington, on an elevation, with perhaps fifty acres of lawn in front, and 
a noble view of the Blue Ridge. The great trees were very interesting to me. A 
white oak near the grave, twenty-one feet in circumference. A chestnut on right 
flank of lawn, thirty-seven feet in circumference. A black walnut, right of house, 
fifteen feet; a poplar (tulip) eighteen feet. The oak and chestnut were low and 
apple-tree shaped: the poplars and walnuts, of which there were many, tall and 
beautiful. The place is not well kept up, and is for sale cheap; forty thousand 
dollars certainly would buy it with eleven hundred acres; and probably thirty 
thousand dollars. A great lack of enterprise, thrift, and comfort in that region, but 
the people were many of them well informed and generally, perhaps universally, 
friendly and well disposed to newcomers. ... On the piazza we were welcomed 
with hearty handshaking by the present owner, Mr. Carson, and by a carefully 
prepared speech by Colonel Willis. An interesting and enjoyable day." 



THE NORTHWEST— AN HONEST DOLLAR 265 

fame is forever safe. He began the work of the formation of the Con- 
stitution, and in the convention he was a leading spirit, his wisdom and 
advice contributing to that result. After the Constitution was framed 
by the convention, it was for him to persuade the people to adopt it. 
In the convention of Virginia there was a great struggle as to whether 
that Commonwealth should ratify the Constitution, and it was largely 
due to the respect and appreciation the people had for the character of 
Madison, and the influence of his counsels, that this question was carried 
in the Virginia convention. He assisted in carrying the Constitution 
into effect as a member of Congress, as a member of the Cabinet, and 
as President of the United States. 

After the close of his pubUc life, no longer disturbed by party con- 
flicts, he survived for many years, an interested spectator of passing 
events. Distinguished men of his time were glad of the opportunity 
to sit at his feet and hear his words of wisdom and patriotism. In my 
remarks at Orange Court House to-day I called attention to an estimate 
of this country by Mr. Gladstone, which I do not think too high. It is 
contained Ijn an article written bj^ that distinguished statesman, en- 
titled "Kin Beyond the Sea," in which he says: "The American Con- 
stitution, so far as I can see, is the most wonderful work ever struck 
oflf at a given time by the brain and purpose of man. It has had a cen- 
tury of trial, under the pressure of exigencies caused by an expansion 
unexampled in point of rapidity and range, and its exemption from 
formal change, though not entire, has certainly proved the sagacity of 
the constructors and the stubborn strength of the fabric." 

We may well honor the name and memory of the man who did so 
much for the present and the future of the country. In view of this 
beautiful scene, the magnificent range of the Blue Ridge, this verdant 
lawn and hospitable mansion, here at the home of Madison we may 
surely say that if the advice and patriotic purposes of this great man 
had been observed, we should have been saved from civil strife. And 
as in the past, so in the future, there are no troubles that can arise in 
the administration of affairs in our country that cannot be settled by a 
recurrence to the principles of Madison — principles which inculcate 
the submission of all sections. States, communities, and citizens to the 
Constitution and laws of the land. The bottom and foundation princi- 
ples on which Madison built will always afford us the means of adjust- 
ing all our difficulties. 

I, however, have no fears. Questions fraught with danger may recur, 
and we may sometimes be disposed to look on the gloomy side; but let 
us all hope that with the model Constitution to guide us, the worst that 
can ever befall us is over. Nothing can be so dangerous as the events 
that have already transpired, and the scenes through which we have 
already passed. 

A few days later the President with a party of friends visited 
the fair at Winchester, Virginia, to which he was welcomed by 



266 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Governor HolHday. Naturally, in his speech on this occasion, 
Mr. Hayes recalled his experiences in that region in the strenu- 
ous days of 1864, He rejoiced to meet the people there under 
the present auspicious circumstances, knowing that whatever 
bitterness might elsewhere be felt, here the general wish was that 
all sectional controversies might be permanently settled, and 
peace and union restored and established. In his speeches in the 
Northwest he had discussed the finances of the Government, in 
the hope of giving people encouragement and confidence. Now 
with a similar end in view he desired to give briefly the views 
entertained by the great Virginia fathers of the country on the 
subject of what is a sound, safe, and stable currency. Thereupon 
he quoted from the writings of Washington, Jefiferson, Madison, 
George Mason, and Chief Justice Marshall, passages which 
strongly condemned the emission of paper money; and ended 
his speech with this vigorous paragraph: — 

It is not necessary for my purpose to make further quotations from 
the fathers. They embodied their opinions in the American Constitu- 
tion. The money of the Constitution is coin. In making money which 
has intrinsic value the constitutional money of our country, the fathers 
adopted the money of the world. By a law resting on the concurring 
judgment and common consent of mankind, in all ages and countries, 
the precious metals have been the measure of value — the money of 
the world. It is a law that is fundamental and irrepealable. It can no 
more be repealed by act of Congress than the law of gravitation. If we 
would have an early return of business prosperity, let us not try to be 
wiser than the fathers, wiser than the Constitution, and wiser than 
human nature. In the present condition of our country, our progress 
towards prosperity as a nation and as individuals depends upon having 
a good public credit and a sound constitutional currency. 

The President was much gratified with the general result of 
the elections, though he was distressed and indignant at the 
campaign and election methods again employed, despite the 
promises and assurances given him by Southern leaders, in some 
parts of the South. The old habit of terrorism and violence 
could not easily be laid aside. ^ While the Democrats again 

^ How many reputable people in the South regarded the methods used to con- 
trol or suppress the colored vote is fairly reflected in the follow ing paragraph from 
the Charleston Netcs and Courier, quoted in the New York Times of February 
10, 1881 : " We do not say that there has been fraud at elections in the South, but 
such fraud is no more regarded as a crime than shooting a burglar is. This can 



THE NORTHWEST — AN HONEST DOLLAR 267 

elected a majority of the Congress, it seemed clear to the Presi- 
dent, from the success of the RepubHcans in state elections and 
in the general popular majorities, that the predominant senti- 
ment of the country was with the Republican party; that it 
condemned the effort of the Potter Committee to reopen the 
question settled by the Electoral Commission; and that it sus- 
tained the policies of the Administration — especially that re- 
lating to the public finances. Mr, Hayes had the right to feel 
that his speeches, while in no sense partisan, had contributed 
effectively to the Republican cause by helping to dissipate men's 
fears of the effect of resumption and by quickening their hopes 
of better times. In his diary (November 6) he writes: — 

The elections of yesterday show very gratifying results. The States 
of New England are solid for sound principles. The crushing defeat of 
Butler was one of the best events that has happened since the war. 
Unscrupulous, able, rich, untiring, he was the most dangerous and 
wicked demagogue we have ever had. When he found he could not rule 
this Administration as he had hoped, he declared war on it and me. 
At the close of his last interview on the Methuen Post-Office he said 
with significant emphasis: "You will regret this," — after a little hesi- 
tation, recollecting himself, he said, — "because it is wrong." 

Everywhere in the North we are stronger than in any off year since 
the war, except possibly in 1866 when Johnson was overwhelmed. The 
South is substantially solid against us. Their vote is light — our side 
was unorganized — a host of people of both colors took no part. The 
whites must divide before we can hope for good results there. The 
blacks, poor, ignorant, and timid, can't stand alone against the whites. 

In my message I must treat this result as a decision in favor of 
resumption undisturbed — in favor of repose — in opposition to all 
revolutionary schemes which would destroy the stability of our govern- 
ment. It is in one word a verdict against Butlerism. . . . 

The only regret is that the better elements of the South were not so 
organized as to have a share in the victory. No doubt many good and 
conservative men have been elected. Probably a large majority are in 
their judgments and consciences opposed to the wild and dangerous 
doctrines which the better sentiment of Massachusetts and of the 
rest of the conservative States of the North have so decidedly con- 
demned. 

A few days later (November 12) he writes: — 

be made clear. The white people in the South are determined to have, by hook or 
crook, respectable, economical, and just State Governments. There is no senti- 
ment about it." 



268 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

It now looks as if the November elections had settled all question as 
to the Presidential title — that Potterism is dead. But Butlerism — 
cheap money schemes still live. The popularity of silver, the unpopu- 
larity of banks, or rather of money-lenders as embodied in the national 
banks, are strong enough to become corner-stones of parties and 
platforms. They will probably divide the Democratic party, and so 
strengthen the Republican; but if all the discontent could be embodied 
in one party, with cheap money and plenty of it as its watchwords, the 
power of such a party would be ample for mischief, and it might, for a 
time, rule the country. 

In South Carolina and Louisiana, and perhaps in some of the other 
cotton States, grave charges are made that the constitutional provi- 
sions which guarantee equal citizenship have been practically nulli- 
fied; that by fraud or force or intimidation colored citizens have been 
disfranchised. 

By state legislation, by frauds, by intimidation, and by violence of 
the most atrocious character, colored citizens have been deprived of the 
right of suffrage — a right guaranteed by the Constitution, and to the 
protection of which the people of those States have been solemnly 
pledged. 



I 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

AMONG THE PEOPLE; THE CENTRAL WEST — NATIONALISM 

T was what happened in the Southern elections of 1878 that 
made the President and the RepubUcans so determined in 
the special session of Congress in the spring of the following 
year, already described, to resist the Democratic efforts to re- 
peal or to emasculate the federal election laws. When the Presi- 
dent visited the West in September, 1879, therefore, the topics 
which had enthralled his attention during the long contest with 
Congress were still uppermost in his mind, and were made the 
principal subject of his discourse at the annual reunion of his old 
regiment which was held at Youngstown, Ohio, September 17. 
This speech is so clear and forceful an exposition of IVIr. Hayes's 
conception of the fundamental principles of our dual system of 
government, of the causes and results of the Civil War, of the 
duty of maintaining unimpaired "the settlements of the war in 
favor of equal rights and the supremacy of the laws of the na- 
tion," that it is here given in full: — 

Comrades and Fellow Citizens, — After almost a year spent in Wash- 
ington, engrossed in public affairs, it is a great pleasure to visit again 
my friends in Ohio, and especially to meet so many of my old com- 
rades at this yearly reunion of the Twenty-third Regiment. Since we 
last met at Willoughby, a year ago, there has been a vast improvement 
in the business condition of our country. Wliatever differences of 
opinion may be still found among the people of this part of Ohio as to 
the importance of the resumption of specie payments, and as to the 
methods by which it has been accomplished, there is one kind of re- 
sumption which is very noticeable in Youngstown, and which is mak- 
ing rapid progress in the whole country, about which I imagine we are 
all heartily agreed. When I last visited this beautiful valley of the 
Mahoning, four years ago, the financial crisis, and the gloomy outlook 
for business and labor and capital, occupied the thoughts and depressed 
the spirits of the people wherever I met them, whether in public as- 
semblies, at their places of business, or at their hospitable homes. Now, 
however, how great and how gratifying is the change! All around 
us here, and throughout the country generally, we see cheering and 



270 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

hopeful indications of better times. Not only have specie payments been 
resumed, but business activity and profitable employment for capital 
and labor have come also. The chief industry and interest of this val- 
ley — the great iron interest — already begins to share largely in the 
benefit of our improved condition, and I therefore heartily congratu- 
late all classes of citizens in this large assemblage on the present favor- 
able business situation, and on the bright and encouraging prospect 
which the future holds out. 

There is a subject interesting to every citizen, and especially to those 
who served in the Union army, in regard to which I wish to say a few 
words : — 

Since our last reunion, in several of the States and in Congress, 
events have occurred which have revived the discussion of the question 
as to the objects for wliich we fought in the great conflict from 18G1 to 
1865, and as to what was accomplished by the final triumph of the 
Union cause. The question is: WTiat was settled by the war.'^ \Miat 
may those who fought for the Union justly claim; and what ought those 
who fought for secession, faithfully to accept as the legitimate results 
of the war.^ 

An eminent citizen of our State, Mr. Groesbeck, said some years ago, 
that "war legislates." He regarded the new constitutional amend- 
ments as part of the legislation of the war for the Union, and said, with 
significant emphasis, "and they will stand." The equal-rights amend- 
ments are the legislation of the war for the Union, and they ought to 
stand. Great wars always legislate. A little more than a hundred years 
ago, this land, where we now are, was claimed and held by France. 
General Wolfe, on the Plains of Abraham, settled that claim, and the 
result was the transfer of the title and jurisdiction of this entire sec- 
tion of the country to England. For a few years its chief ruler was the 
English King. The Kevolution followed, and the question of its owner- 
ship was again the subject of war legislation, and it became a part 
of the United States, no longer under a monarchy, but under a free 
republican Government. 

I need not enter into any discussion of the causes of our Civil War. 
We all know that the men who planned the destruction of the Union 
and the establishment of the Confederate States, based their attempt 
on a construction of the Constitution called the state-rights doctrine, 
and on the interest of the people of those States in the extension and 
perpetuation of slavery. The doctrine of States' rights was, that each 
State was sovereign and supreme, and might nullify the laws of the 
Union or secede from the Union at pleasure. They held that slavery 
was the natural and normal condition of the colored man, and that, 
therefore, slavery in this country could and should be the corner-stone 
of a free government. 

No man has ever stated the issues of the Civil War more fully, more 
clearly, or more accurately than Mr. Lincoln. In any inquiry as to 
what may fairly be included among the things settled by our victory, 



THE CENTRAL WEST — NATIONALISM 271 

all just and patriotic minds instinctively turn to Mr. Lincoln. To him, 
more than to any other man, the cause of Union and liberty is indebted 
for its final triumph. Besides, with all his wonderful sagacity, and wis- 
dom, and logical faculty, dwelling intently, and anxiously, and prayer- 
fully, during four years of awful trial and responsibility, on the questions 
which were continually arising to perplex and almost confound him, 
he at last became the very embodiment of the principles by wliich the 
country and its liberties were saved. All good citizens may now well 
listen to and heed his words. None have more reason to do it with re- 
spect and confidence, and a genuine regard, than those whom he ad- 
dressed in his first inaugural speech as "my dissatisfied fellow country- 
men." The leader of the Union cause was so just and moderate, and 
patient and humane, that many supporters of the Union thought that 
he did not go far enough or fast enough, and assailed his opinions and 
his conduct; but now all men begin to see that the plain people, who at 
last came to love him, and to lean upon his wisdom and firmness with 
absolute trust, were altogether right, and that in deed and purpose 
he was earnestly devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and of all 
its inhabitants. 

Believing that Mr. Lincoln's opinions are of higher authority on the 
questions of the war than those of any other public man on either side 
of the controversy, I desire to present them quite fully and in his own 
language. 

In the third year of the war, and while its result was still undecided, 
Mr. Lincoln made his memorable address at the consecration of the 
Gettysburg National Cemetery, on the 19th of November, 1863. He 
was standing on the field of the greatest battle of the war. He was, no 
doubt, deeply impressed with the heavy responsibilities which he had 
borne so long. He spoke not as a partisan, embittered and narrow and 
sectional, but in the broad and generous spirit of a patriot, solicitous 
to say that which would be worthy to be pondered by all of his coun- 
trymen throughout all time. In his short speech of only two or three 
paragraphs he twice spoke of the objects of the war, once in its opening 
and again in its closing sentence. The words have been often quoted, 
but they cannot be too familiar. They bear clearly and forcibly on the 
question we are considering. 

"Fourscore and seven years ago," said Mr. Lincoln, "our fathers 
brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we 
are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any 
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure." 

And again, in closing, he said: "It is rather for us . . . that we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vam, that this na- 
tion, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that govern- 
ment of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth." 

No statement of the true objects of the war more complete than this 



272 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

has ever been made. It includes them all — nationality, liberty, equal 
rights, and self-government. These are the principles for which the 
Union soldier fought, and which it was his aim to maintain and to 
perpetuate. 

If any one supposes that that construction of our National Constitu- 
tion, which is known as the state-rights doctrine, is consistent with 
sound principles, let him consider a few paragraphs from Mr. Lincoln's 
first message to Congress, at the extra session of 1861. 

Speaking of what was called the right of peaceful secession — that 
is, secession in accordance with the National Constitution — he said: 
"This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency from 
the assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred supremacy 
pertaining to a State — to each State of our Federal Union. Our States 
have neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the 
Union by the Constitution, no one of them ever having been a State 
out of the Union. The original ones passed into the Union even before 
they cast off their British colonial dependence, and the new ones each 
came into the Union directly from a condition of dependence, except- 
ing Texas; and even Texas, in its temporary independence, was never 
designated a State. The new ones only took the designation of States 
on coming into the Union, while that name was first adopted for the 
old ones in and by the Declaration of Independence. Therein the 
'United Colonies' were declared to be 'free and independent States;' 
but, even then, the ol^ject plainly was not to declare their independence 
of one another, or of the Union, but directly the contrary; as their 
mutual pledge, and their mutual action, before, at the time, and after- 
wards, abundantly show. The express plighting of faith by each and all 
of the original thirteen, in the Articles of Confederation, two years later, 
that the Union shall be perpetual, is most conclusive. Having never 
been States, either in substance or in name, outside of the Union, whence 
this magical omnipotence of 'state rights,' asserting a claim of power 
to lawfully destroy the Union itself.'^ Much is said about the 'sover- 
eignty' of the States: but the word, even, is not in the National Con- 
stitution, nor, as is believed, in any of the state constitutions. What 
is a 'sovereignty,' in the political sense of the term.'' Would it be far 
wrong to define it, 'A political community, without apolitical superior' .'' 
Tested by this, no one of our States, except Texas, ever was a sov- 
ereignty; and even Texas gave up the character on coming into the 
Union; by which act she acknowledged the Constitution of the Unite<l 
States and the laws and treaties of the United States made in pursu- 
ance of the Constitution to be for her the supreme law of the land. The 
States have their status in the Union, and they have no other legal 
status. If they break from this, they can only do so against law, and 
by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured 
their independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase the 
Union gave each of them whatever of independence or liberty it has. 
The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them 



THE CENTRAL WEST - NATIONALISM 273 

as States. Originally, some dependent colonies made the Union, and, 
in turn, the Union threw off their old dependence for them and made 
them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a state con- 
stitution independent of the Union. Of course, it is not forgotten that 
all the new States framed their constitutions before they entered the 
Union; nevertheless, dependent upon, and preparatory to, coming into 
the Union." 

Unquestionably the States have the powers and rights reserved to 
them in and by the National Constitution; and upon this point, in 
another part of this great message, Mr. Lincoln says: "This relative 
matter of national power and state rights, as a piinciple, is no other 
than the principle of generality and locality. Whatever concerns the 
whole should be confided to the whole — to the general Government; 
while whatever concerns only the State should be left exclusively to the 
State. This is all there is of original principle about it." 

Mr. Lincoln held that the United States is a nation, and that its 
Government possesses ample power under the Constitution to maintain 
its authority and enforce its laws in every part of its territory. The 
denial of this principle by those who asserted the doctrine of state 
rights, and who rightly claimed that it was inconsistent with state sov- 
ereignty, made up an issue over which arose one of the leading contro- 
versies which led to the Civil War. The result of the war decided that 
controversy in favor of nationality and in favor of the supremacy of the 
National Government. 

On the question of human rights, Mr. Lincoln was equally exphcit, 
and often declared that it was involved in the conflict, and to be decided 
by the result. In his matchless message, already quoted, he says: "Our 
adversaries have adopted some declarations of independence, in which, 
unlike the good old one, penned by Jefferson, they omit the words, 'all 
men are created equal.' WTiy? They have adopted a temporary na- 
tional constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one, 
signed by Washington, they omit, 'We, the people,' and substitute, 
'We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States.' Why.'' 
Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men, and the 
authority of the people? This is essentially a people's contest. On the 
side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form 
and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the 
condition of men; to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear 
the paths of laudable pursuit for all ; to afford all an unfettered start, 
and a fair chance in the race of hfe. Yielding to partial and temporary 
departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Government 
for whose existence we contend. I am most happy to beheve that the 
plain people understand and appreciate this." 

On the subject of suffrage, Mr. Lincoln's guiding principle was that 
"no man is good enough to govern another man without that other 
man's consent." 

Thus we have from the lips and pen of Mr. Lincoln, — the great 



«74 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

leader and representative of the Union cause, — in the most solemn and 
authentic form, a complete statement of the issues of the war. He held 
that the Union is perpetual; that its Government is national and su- 
preme; and that all of its inhabitants should be free, and be accorded 
equal civil and pohtical rights. 

These are the great fundamental principles, affirmed on the one side, 
and denied on the other, upon which the appeal was made to the God 
of battles. I do not undertake to review the debate as to the nature 
and powers of the Government of the Union, and as to the doctrine of 
States' rights, which began with the foundation of our institutions, and 
which was continued until it was hushed by the clash of arms. It is 
enough for my present purpose to say that, as a matter of history, all of 
the political parties of the past, when charged with the responsibility of 
directing the afJairs of the Government, have maintained, in their prac- 
tical administration of it. precisely the same principles which were held 
by President Lincoln. The principles as to the powers of the National 
Government which were acted upon by Washington and Jackson, and 
which are sustained by the decisions of Chief Justice Marshall, and by 
which Lincoln and the Union armies crushed the Rebellion and rescued 
the Republic, are among the legitimate and irreversible results of the 
war which ought not to be questioned. 

Touching the remaining important controversy settled by the war, 
the public avowals of opinion are almost all in favor of the faithful 
acceptance of the new constitutional amendments. On this subject the 
speeches of public men and the creeds and platforms of the leading 
pohtical parties have for some years past been exphcit. In 1872, all 
parties in their respective national conventions adopted resolutions 
recognizing the equality of all men before the law. and pledging them- 
selves, in the words of the Democratic National Convention, "to main- 
tain emancipation and enfranchisement, and to oppose the reopening of 
the questions settled by the recent amendments to the Constitution." 
In 1876, the great political parties again, in the language of the St. 
Louis National Convention, affirmed their "devotion to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, with its amendments universally accepted 
as a final settlement of the controversies that engendered the Civil 
War." Notwithstanding these declarations, we are compelled to take 
notice that, while very few citizens anywhere would wish to reestablish 
slavery if they could, and no one would again attempt to break up the 
Union by secession, there still remains in some communities a danger- 
ous practical denial to the colored citizens of the political rights wliich 
are guaranteed to them by the Constitution as it now is. In the crisis 
of the war, Mr. Lincoln appealed to the colored people to take up arms. 
About two hundred thousand responded to the call, enlisted in the 
Union armies, and fought for the Union cause under the Union flag. 
Equality of rights for the colored people, from that time, thus became 
one of the essential issues of the war. General Sherman said: "When 
the fight is over, the hand that drops the musket cannot be denied the 



THE CENTRAL WEST — NATIONALISM 275 

ballot." Jefferson said long before: "The man who fights for the coun- 
try is entitled to vote." When, with the help of the colored men, the 
victory was gained, the Fifteenth Amendment followed naturally as 
one of its legitimate resiilts. No man can truthfully claim that he faith- 
fully accepts the true settlements of the war who sees with indifference 
the Fifteenth Amendment practically nullified. 

No one can overstate the evils which the country must suffer if law- 
less and violent opposition to the enjoyment of constitutional rights is 
allowed to be permanently successful. The lawlessness which to-day 
assails the rights of the colored people will find other victims to-mor- 
row. This question belongs to no race, to no party, and to no section. 
It is a question in which the whole country is deeply interested. 
Patriotism, justice, humanity, and our material interests, all plead on 
the right side of this question. The colored people are the laborers 
who produce the cotton which, going abroad to the markets of the 
world, gives us that favorable balance of trade which is now doing so 
much for the revival of all business. The whole fabric of society rests 
upon labor. If free laborers suffer from oppression and injustice, they 
will either become discontented and turbulent, destroyers of property, 
and not producers of property, or they will abandon the communities 
which deprive them of their inalienable rights. In either case, social 
order and the peaceful industries upon which prosperity depends, are 
imperilled and perhaps sacrificed. It will not do to say that this is an 
affair which belongs solely to the distant States of the South. The 
whole country must suffer if this question is not speedily settled, and 
settled rightly. Where the two races are numerous, prosperity can only 
exist by the united and harmonious efforts of both the white people and 
the colored people. The only solid foundations for peace and progress 
in such communities are equal and exact justice to both races. Con- 
sider the present situation? Whatever complaints may have been heard 
during the progress of reconstruction, candid men must admit that all 
sections and all States are now equally regarded, and share alike the 
rights, the privileges, and the benefits of the common Government. 
All that is needed for the permanent pacification of the country is 
the cordial cooperation of all well-disposed citizens to secure the 
faithful observance of the equal-rights amendments of the Constitu- 
tion. 

Happily, in the very communities where lawlessness has been most 
general and most successful, there are editors of newspapers and other 
influential citizens who speak out and denounce these crimes against 
free government. It is plain that a sound pubHc opinion is forming 
where it is most needed. No community can afford to allow any of its 
citizens to be oppressed — to lose their rights. To be indifferent on the 
subject is to disregard interest and duty. The Union citizens and sol- 
diers can do much to remove the evils we are considering. Let it be 
understood that no public man in any party will be sustained unless he 
will undertake to carry out in good faith the pledges made in all our 



276 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES $! 

platforms in regard to the rights of colored citizens; unless he will sup- 
port laws providing the means required to punish crimes against them; 
and unless he will oppose the admission of any man to either house of 
Congress whose seat has been obtained by the violation of the Fifteenth 
Amendment. The right of suffrage is the right of self-protection. Its 
free exercise is the vital air of republican institutions. 

To establish now the state-rights doctrine of the supremacy of the 
States, and an oligarchy of race, is deliberately to throw away an essen- 
tial part of the fruits of the Union victory. The settlements of the 
war in favor of equal rights and the supremacy of the laws of the nation 
are just and wise and necessary. Let them not be surrendered. Let 
them be faithfully accepted and firmly enforced. Let them stand, and, 
with the advancing tide of business prosperity, we may confidently 
hope, by the blessing of Divine Providence, that we shall soon enter 
upon an era of harmony and progress such as has been rarely enjoyed 
by any people. 

This speech attracted universal attention and for days was 
the most important topic of editorial discussion. By the Demo- 
cratic papers the President was condemned for making a polit- 
ical speech on such an occasion and was censured as having 
abandoned his policy of conciliation. But a calm comparison of 
his language in this address with what he had said in his letter 
of acceptance, in his inaugural address, and in his Southern 
speeches, fails to reveal any substantive inconsistency. Always 
he had insisted that there should be no invasion of the province 
of state authority by the National Government. Always, too, 
he had insisted that the Constitution with its new amendments 
should be loyally accepted and faithfully enforced in all the 
States. And this the Republican and independent press was 
diligent in setting forth. The New York Evening Post fairly re- 
flected the controlling opinion of the country when it said of the 
Youngstown speech: "We cannot recall just now a more concise 
and cogent statement of the powers and their restrictions vrith. 
which the founders of the Republic clothed the United States 
and the several States, and of the rights which must be guaran- 
teed to every citizen of the Republic, unless our political insti- 
tutions are to fail miserably." ^ 

The very next day after the Youngstown address, Mr. Hayes 
made a speech at Detroit, at the Michigan State Fair, of quite 
a different character. In this he dwelt upon the business and 
1 September 19, 1879. 



THE CENTRAL WEST — NATIONALISM 277 

industrial condition of the country, rejoicing in the fulfilment of 
the prophecy of returning prosperity which he had made in his 
speeches of the year before, and urging men to prolong good 
times by the homely virtues of thrift and paying as you go.^ In 
the course of this speech, he said : — 

A year ago, making a visit of two or three weeks to the West and 
Northwest, I thought it might be useful to speak of the financial con- 
dition of the country, and to present a hopeful view of the situation 
and prospects. The business depression which followed the panic of 
1873 had then lasted five years; but there were indications of improve- 
ment, and it seemed to me that what was most needed was confidence, 
and that a presentation of encouraging facts and figures would tend 
to inspire confidence. It was my opinion, also, that there could be no 
permanent revival of business prosperity until the currency was placed 
upon a sound basis, and was exchangeable at its par value in the uni- 
versally recognized money of the world. The friends of the constitu- 
tional currency generally believed that this end could only be reached 
by the faitliful execution of the Resumption Act; that there was no 
need of further legislation; and that the true policy was to stop tinlv- 
ering with the currency. Accordingly, the pith of what I wished to 
say last year to audiences like tliis was, that we ought to "let well 
enough alone." Now the resumption of specie payments has come, and 
with it have come also better times. 

The evidences of good times are numerous, palpable, and cheering. 
[The increase in railway earnings, and construction; the greater activity 
in all branches of manufacturing and industry; the wonderful increase 
in the exportation of farm products, as shown by official statistics.] 

^ This was a favorite thought with Mr. Hayes; he had pondered it afresh for 
his discussions of this year. In the diary (July 13, 1879) he WTote: — 

"At church thought of this course of observation in my talks to people this 
fall. Avoid mere electioneering topics. Call attention to what I said a year ago, 
to the effect that we were on the threshold of better times, that the true course, 
the wise course, was to let well enough alone, that resumption would come if there 
was no more tinkering, and that until it came there could be no solid prosperity, 
and that with it good times were certain. Now the resumption fires are starting 
up in all directions, the good times are coming — coming and have come. And 
what now is wisdom, what is good conduct .'* What will keep the times good? 
What ^"ill enable us to feel that resumption has come to stay.'' Again I say, let 
well enough alone. The policy which brought resumption and better times will 
make resumption and prosperity permanent. 

"The one thought I would like to lodge in all minds is, keep out of debt; if in 
debt, now is the time to get out of it in the only safe way, by honestly paying 
them. The honest pajTnent of debts is the safest way to get rid of them. But let 
every man, every corporation, and especially let every village, town, and city, 
every county and State, get out of debt and keep out of debt. It is the debtor 
that is ruined by hard times." 



278 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

With these authentic and significant facts and figures before us, we 
may reasonably assume that the country has entered again upon a 
period of business prosperity. The interesting questions now are. 
Have tlie good times come to stay? What can we do in private and 
in puljHc affairs to prolong the period of prosperity, and to mitigate 
the severity of hard times when they again return? The prospects 
are now bright, but all experience teaches that the wheel of human 
affairs, always turning, brings around those tremendous events called 
financial panics, if not with regularity, at any rate with certainty. The 
writer of an intelligent article in one of the monthlies says: "Panics, it 
has been observed, recur about every twenty years in this country, and 
almost every ten years in England." The explanation of this is not 
difficult to discover. In good times the tendency is to extravagance, 
to speculation, and to running in debt. Many spend more than they 
earn, and the balance of trade soon begins to run against communities 
and individuals. When this has continued until the business of the 
country is loaded down with debts, a financial crisis is inevitable, and 
only waits for "the last straw." If this view is correct, the way to meet 
the dangerous tendencies of flush times is plain. Let two of Dr. Frank- 
lin's homely proverbs be strictly observed by individuals and by com- 
munities. One is, "Never live beyond your means"; and the other is 
like unto it, namely — "Pay as you go." 

It is easy to see that, if these old maxims of the pliilosophy of common 
sense could have general practical acceptance, the period of good times 
would be greatly prolonged, and the calamities of liard times would be 
vastly diminished. There can be no great financial crisis without large 
indebtedness, and the distress which it brings is in proportion to the 
extent of the extravagance, speculation, and consequent indebtedness 
which have caused it. Those who are out of debt suffer least. Where 
the debts are heaviest the calamity is heaviest. But it is of public in- 
debtedness, and especially of the debts of towns and cities, that I wish 
to say a few words. 

The practice of creating public debts, as it prevails in tliis country, 
especially in municipal government, has long attracted very serious at- 
tention. It is a great and growing evil. States, whose good name and 
credit have been hitherto untarnished, are threatened with repudiation. 
Many towns and cities have reached a point where they must soon face 
the same peril. I do not now wish to discuss the mischiefs of repudia- 
tion. My purpose is merely to make a few suggestions as to the best 
way to avoid repudiation. But, in passing, let me observe: Experience 
in this country has shown that no State or community can, under any 
circumstances, gain by repudiation. The repudiators themselves cannot 
afford it. The community that deliberately refuses to provide for its 
honest debts loses its good name and shuts the door to all hope of future 
prosperity. It demoralizes and degrades all classes of its citizens. Cap- 
ital and labor and good people will not go to such communities, but will 
siu:ely leave them. If I thought my words could influence any of my 



THE CENTRAL WEST — NATIONALISM 279 

countrymen who are so unfortunate as to be compelled to consider tliis 
question, I would say, let no good citizen be induced by any prospect 
of advantage to himself or to his party to take a single step toward 
repudiation. Let him set his face like flint against the first dawning of 
an attempt to enter upon that downward pathway. It has been well 
said that the most expensive way for a community to get rid of its 
honest debts is repudiation. 

Returning to the suljject of municipal debts, it is not alone those 
that live in towns and cities who are interested in their wise and eco- 
nomical government. All who trade with their citizens, all who buy of 
them, all who sell to them — in a word, the whole of the laboring and 
producing classes — must bear a share of their burdens. The taxes 
collected in the city find their way into the price-lists of what is 
bought of and sold to the farmers and laborers in the country. On the 
questions of 'debt and taxation the dwellers of the city and those who 
habitually deal with them form together one community and have a 
common interest. 

The usual argument in favor of creating a city debt is, that the pro- 
posed building or improvement is not for this generation alone, but is 
also for the benefit of posterity, and, therefore, posterity ought to help 
to pay for it. This reasoning will not bear examination. Each genera- 
tion has its own demands upon its purse. It should not be called on to 
pay for the cast-off garments of its ancestors. . . . 

Municipal borrowing is the parent of waste, profligacy, and corrup- 
tion. Money that comes easily goes easily. In this career of reckless 
extravagance, cities build and buy what they do not need, and pay for 
what they get far more than it is worth. . . . The volume of the local 
indebtedness of the country already exceeds one half the great war debt 
of the nation, and the interest upon them, from the high rates usually 
paid, will soon equal the total interest upon the national debt. 

The urgent question that is now pressing for consideration is, how to 
deal with these large and increasing local debts. The best answer, it 
seems to me, is simple, ready at hand, and sufficient: Do not have any 
local debts. Let it be embodied in the constitution and laws of every 
State that local authorities shall create no debts; that they shall make 
no appropriations of money until it is collected and on hand; that all 
appropriations shall be for specific objects, and that as to existing debts, 
suitable provision shall he made for their extinguishment. ... 

The policy of preventing the creation of local debts by positive con- 
stitutional prohibition is fully sustained by the experience of the States 
with respect to state debts. Constitutions in many of the old, and in 
all of the new, States have been adopted within the last thirty or forty 
years, and almost all of them contain provisions denying to state legis- 
latures the authority to create debts except in case of war, insurrec- 
tion, or other extraordinary emergency. Under the operation of these 
prohibitory provisions, the debts existing at the time of their adoption 
have been greatly reduced, and the only States now embarrassed by 



280 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

clel:)t are those whose constitutions do not contain this WTse prohibi- 
tion. 

The general policy of the National Government on the subject of debt 
has always been sound. It may be summed up in a few words: No 
debts to be created in time of peace, and war debts to be paid off as 
rai)idly as possible when the war ends. , . . 

As a marked evidence of the fidelity with which our national obliga- 
tions of this description have heretofore been met, it is worthy of note 
that, during the War of 1812, the interest on the portion of the debt 
held by British subjects was regularly paid, the agents of the holders 
in this country, owing to the interruption of direct commercial inter- 
course, being sometimes obliged to resort to circuitous and extremely 
difficult routes for the transmission of payment. I find the fact re- 
marked upon by Mr. Alexander Trotter, the British author of a stand- 
ard work published in 1839, upon our national financial position and 
credit at that time. The author also notes the fact that the act of Con- 
gress passed by the first Congress that assembled after the adoption 
of the Constitution, to make provision for the payment of all the out- 
standing engagements of the Government, "with a degree of integrity 
which is rare in the history of the financial embarrassments of states," 
postponed the claims of creditors at home until those of the foreign 
creditor were provided for. 

Our war debt resulting from the War for the Union amounted to 
about $3,000,000,000, and has been reduced to about $2,000,000,000. 
. . . The policy of paying off the national debt, which, at the close 
of the war, was urged upon the country with so much force by the 
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Hugh McCulloch, has borne good fruit. 
Young men of this audience can remember when the Government of 
the United States found great difficulty in borrowing so smaU a sum 
as $25,000,000, and for a considerable part of it was compelled to pay 
as liigh as twelve per cent. Last spring, by reason of improved and 
strengthened credit, the Government had no trouble in borrowing, in 
the single month of April, $225,000,000 at four per cent interest. The 
amount offered in that month exceeded $500,000,000, and there was 
one day when the amount offered was $159,000,000. 

Let the policy of extinguishing the national delit 1)C adhered to. Let 
it be the fixed purpose of the people and all who administer the Gov- 
ernment to pay off the debt within thirty-three years. It can be done 
by economy and prudence without a material increase of the burdens 
of the people. The payment of $33,000,000 a year upon the principal 
of the debt, or into a sinking-fund for that purpose, will, within tliirty- 
three years, leave us free from debt as a nation. 

That which is sound policy in national and state affairs, in regard 
to public debts, is, I believe, also wise policy in local affairs and in pri- 
vate affairs. Let it be everywhere adopted, in pul)lic and private, and 
we may welcome the advancing tide of b<>tter times, confident tliat we 
have found the secret that will prolong their stay, and which will go 



THE CENTRAL WEST — NATIONALISM 281 

far to make us independent in that, I trust distant, day when a finan- 
cial panic may again strike down the general prosperity. 

After the visit to Michigan the President proceeded to Kan- 
sas,^ where he visited many of the more important towns of the 
State and deHvered many speeches, being greeted at all points 
with every demonstration of respect. In his speeches he repeated 
in various forms the substance of what he had said at Youngs- 
town and at Detroit, and the hearty applause with which L's 
words were received was evidence that his ideas made an im- 
pressive popular appeal. At St. Joseph, Missouri (September 
29), on the return journey, an enthusiastic welcome awaited 
him, and he spoke with especial directness and vigor. After 
dwelling on the peculiar position of St. Joseph, — at the extreme 
edge of the northernmost slave State and on the border of "the 
remarkable State" he had just left, "where the antislavery 
sentiment was more pervading and more aggressive than in al- 
most any other State," — as enabling its people to understand 
alike the evils of the old conditions and the difficulties and em- 
barrassments attending reconstruction, he continued : — 

It seems to me, and I think I am not mistaken, that in those [recon- 
struction] measures there were two leading ideas, wliich if generally 
accepted throughout our country, if generally adopted as a rule of 
action for the general Government, and for the State Governments, 
would go far toward estabUshing a complete and permanent pacifica- 
tion throughout our country. One concerns the relation of the States 
to the general Government, and the other is concerning the rights of 
citizens under the recent constitutional amendments. 

The first idea is, that equal and exact justice should be extended to all 
sections and to all States; that under a common Government equal 
rights and privileges, equal justice and equal benefits and blessings 
should be enjoyed by all States and all sections, and that the general 
Government should deal upon the same principles and by the same 
methods with Texas and Kansas, and with Missouri and Georgia. 
[Cheers.] Now, that principle agreed to and established, and acted 
upon, would be so far so well. What is the second? It is like unto the 
first — that in this country hereafter, as all its inhabitants have be- 
come citizens invested by the Constitution with equal civil and political 
rights, that all Governments, State and National, should treat all citi- 
zens as entitled to the same with equal and exact justice, according to 

1 The President was accompanied by Mrs. Hayes and his two elder sons, and 
by General Sherman with members of his staff. 



282 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the laws. With these two principles accepted and enforced, we shall 
enter upon a career of prosperity and harmony, such as the country has 
never known before. [Cheers.] 

I have spoken, my friends, of the National Government, and of the 
State Governments. I must go one step further. All go\xrnment in 
this free country is at last a government of public opinion. Public 
opinion is back of the National Government. It is back of the State 
Governments. It is public opinion that rules in this Republic of the 
United States. [Cheers.] When, therefore, I come into an assembly 
of my fellow citizens to talk about the duty of the Government, I reach 
back and beyond the Government. The individual who is Governor or 
who is President to-day passes away, but the people and the })opular 
judgment and their ruling opinion will last through generations and 
ages, as we hope. [Cheers.] Now, as to popular opinion, let it be sound 
on these two great leading ideas and principles; let every man feel that 
he can form a part of that popular sentiment and opinion; that he is 
responsible for what he can do to direct aright tlie general conduct of 
the country as to the rights of the States and as to the rights of citizens. 

The misfortune of the old time was that there were in this country 
two popular opinions. There was the popular opinion of the slavehold- 
ing States and there was the popular opinion of the free States. Now 
let us strive to be equal to our opportunities and to the new and im- 
proved condition of our country. Let it be understood hereafter that 
in all things there is but one popular opinion in our country which is 
to decide as to every important event. Having said this much I would 
finally appeal to a maxim of the old Native American party, to wliich 
I did not belong [cheers], for settlement of the whole question. I did 
not happen to agree entirely with the old party in reference to naturali- 
zation. But it did have as its basis one sentiment with which I am in 
complete and entire accord. [Cheers.] It is the sentiment of that party 
in regard to the Union, expressed in the motto, "The Union, the Con- 
stitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws." [Cheers.] That governs 
the whole business of to-day. Let the popular sentiment sustain that 
old principle, and with a favorable condition of pecuniary and business 
affairs, we shall enter upon an era of prosperity which will be the envy 
of the civilized world. [Prolonged cheers.] 

On the following day, Springfield, Illinois, threw open wide 
its gates to the President's party, Governor Cullom acting as 
host. At the State House, where speeches of welcome were made 
on behalf of the State, of the city, and of the school-children, 
gathered in force to see the President, Mr. Hayes spoke these 
words : — 

I am profoundly affected by this generous reception and welcome. 
I ought not, it seems to me, in the presence of this audience, to sit down 



♦ 
THE CENTRAL WEST— NATIONALISM 283 

with a mere bald acknowledgment of what I owe to you without at 
least naming one name — nay, I should perhaj^s name two names. 
I pass by all the living ; but Douglas and Lincoln — Lincoln and Doug- 
las — are names in the history of Illinois — nay, in the history of the 
Republic — that are linked together forever in adamant, — 

"Names that ne'er 
Shall sink while there 's an echo left in air." 

[Applause.] Of Lincoln, you, his neighbors and his friends and their 
descendants, of Lincoln as a man you, perhaps, know far better than I 
could possibly know him; but yet, as a public servant, laboring for his 
country, leading the embattled hosts of American patriots, fighting 
the battle of freedom for all mankind, laboring in his Administration 
through those four long, anxious years, I have had some opportunities 
to know Mr. Lincoln not, perhaps, enjoyed by you. I do not disparage 
the achievements of any of the great men of the past — Washington 
and Jefferson and Madison. The great work that they did outside of 
the Presidential office was sufficient to make them forever memorable 
in our history. But in the office of President, at the head of the Ad- 
ministration, your beloved Lincoln stands alone, head and shoulders 
above all his predecessors. [Great applause.] In the ages that are to 
come, centuries hence, when the names of the ordinary, fair-minded 
Presidents, who do faitlifuUy their duties in their place, when their 
names shall simply serve to mark a date, — no more than a single date 
in the almanac, any one of them, — Lincoln will stand out as the man 
who did the work of his century, never to be forgotten. 

Then tlie party visited the State Fair where more speeches 
were made and more enthusiasm abounded, and the day ended 
with a brilliant reception at the Executive IVIansion. The next 
day the journey was made — with cannon booming and bands 
playing at every station — to Indianapohs. Here a great in- 
dustrial parade, in connection with the State Fair, had been 
arranged to celebrate the President's visit; and nowhere in all 
the long trip was there a warmer welcome or greater manifesta- 
tion of popular esteem. In his speech at the fairground the Presi- 
dent refused to regard the demonstration as intended simply 
to do him honor. Rather he said: "You are here to welcome the 
coming of better times. You are here to rejoice over and be glad 
and to welcome the return of a solid currency; to welcome the 
restoration of individual and national credit, after the long night 
of five or six years of depression, of gloom, and of financial dis- 
aster, and to welcome the good time coming." He spoke then 
of the resources and development of the State; paid high tribute 



284 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

to the memory of Oliver P. Morton as the greatest of the war 
Governors; and ended with a plea for the encouragement of a 
common sentiment in all parts of the country. He said : — 

In the past one of the troubles has been that in each section of the 
country they had a separate and distinct pubUc opinion, by wliich all 
men and all events were judged. A man in Georgia did not care a straw 
what you people in Indiana thought about anything he might do or say, 
and Oliver P. Morton and other men like him did not care much about 
what they thought down in Georgia about what he said; and this was 
true of other sections of the country. But now that old line of division 
has been largely broken down, so that a man can enunciate the same 
sentiments at St. Joseph, Missouri, and be applauded in the same way 
for these utterances that I am here to-day. A change came, but it has 
come slowly. It does not come as fast as we would like to have it come ; 
but slavery lasted for two hundred years, and the education and prej- 
udices of two hundred years are not to be wiped out in one Adminis- 
tration, What we want is that in every section of the country whatever 
is said and done, under pressure of public opinion, shall be done by the 
common public opinion of the whole United States. The people of 
Indianapolis, each one of you, should have the same share in forming 
public opinion that governs Georgia and California, that you have in 
forming the public opinion that governs Indiana. 

It was doubtless an unpremeditated felicity that this last 
speech of the trip, like the one at St. Joseph, thus reached its 
climax in the noble aspiration for a common public opinion of 
all States and sections which should control political speech and 
action. It is evident from contemporary newspaper comment 
that the President's speeches, — being, as one writer of the day 
characterized them, "not the studied efforts of the politician, 
eager to impress his hearers with an idea of his own importance; 
but the frank expressions of a well-informed man desirous of 
fostering sound views of national questions among the masses, 
and of cultivating a feeling of hearty good-will between different 
sections of the country," ^ — had a most wholesome effect on 
public sentiment, rasped as it had been by the bitterness of 
partisan debate and sectional recrimination during the long 
special session of Congress. One of the most intelligent of the 
independent journals of the day, the Indianapolis News, re- 
flected the judgment of thoughtful men when, in welcoming the 
President, it said that his task had been to restore peace; that 
* Baltimore American, October 1, 1879. 



THE CENTRAL WEST— NATIONALISM 285 

"the people, not those who too often presume to speak for them, 
being assured that his aim was lofty, his endeavor earnest, and 
his patience great enough to go forward to the end and await 
the result, had been glad to do honor to the man who had had 
the penetration to discern their better nature." "No Presi- 
dent," the editor continued, "ever had heartier welcomes or 
truer ones, . . . and year after year they have been greater and 
warmer, as time has brought President and people closer, and 
given a clearer view of their unity of purpose. . . . No President 
has ever come into so direct contact with the mass of the people 
— the non-ruling class. . . . There he has his truest friends; 
there he has his strongest support." ^ 

^ The Indianapolis News, October 1, 1879. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

AMONG THE PEOPLE; THE PACIFIC COAST — EDUCATION 

IN the last year of his term Mr. Hayes made the longest ex- 
pedition ever undertaken up to that time by any President. 
This was a visit to the Pacific Coast — the first visit to that re- 
mote part of the country by any Chief Magistrate. Mr. Hayes 
had contemplated making this journey early in the summer of 
1879, but the prolonged special session of Congress thwarted 
his plans. Before describing this journey, however, mention 
should be made of certain other memorable appearances of the 
President that year. In midsummer he visited New Haven to 
attend the annual commencement of Yale University, being the 
guest while there of his kinsman, Mr. Thomas R. Trowbridge. 
All sorts of attentions were bestowed upon him by the towns- 
people, and the university conferred upon him the honorary 
degree of Doctor of Laws. At the alumni banquet. President 
Porter, introducing Mr. Hayes as a "recent graduate," said: 
"There is one truth which he has announced and wrought into 
our hearts which I will mention: 'He serves his party best who 
serves his country best.' To have done this alone is enough 
glory for one Administration." Mr. Hayes in his response, after 
expressing appreciation of the manner of his reception, said: — 

You will readily recall the exciting events of four years ago, during 
the embarrassing period which intervened between the election and the 
final decision of the question as to wlio should be the incumbent of the 
Presidential chair. I was much embarrassed, for it was plainly to be 
seen that if the trust and responsibility of that station was to devolve 
upon me the voyage would not be over a smooth sea or under halcyon 
skies. Therefore, when it seemed probable that the responsibility might 
devolve upon my shoulders, my first thought was, "What is the para- 
mount duty I shall have to perform, and how can it be done?" It 
seemed to me that the permanent pacification of the country was the 
first duty. [Applause.] I knew there were good and true people who 
failed to see the path of duty as I did; but I thought I saw the neces- 
sity of doing something to restore the confidence of the whole people, 
and of bringing to the whole country the rest and repose it so sadly 
needed. [Applause.] 



THE PACIFIC COAST — EDUCATION 287 

Seeing this as my first duty, I asked: "What can I do to assure all, 
that this will be my earnest purpose?" This had been attempted in 
party platforms and in letters of acceptance. What was required by 
the people, however, was some distinct, unmistakable, and palpable 
act. [Applause.] It occurred to me that I might find in the South some 
man of the highest character who had been opposed to me through the 
long and bitter conflict, and who therefore had the confidence of the 
Southern people against whom we fought, and who would be faithful 
to the Constitution as it now is, and that it would be wise to invite such 
a man to a place at the council-board of the nation. [Applause.] I 
found no great political leader suggesting that this course might possi- 
bly lead to a solution of our difiiculties. While I was pondering on the 
course to pursue, there came to me like a flash of sunlight from the sky, 
a letter from the great and venerable man who so long presided over 
the destinies of Yale, and whom we almost worship. [Applause.] With- 
out drifting into a speech, I will say that the suggestions contained in 
that letter were in perfect accord with tlie conclusions of my own 
judgment, and that I followed implicitly President Woolsey's advice. 
[Applause and cheers.] 

All may not have resulted as I then believed and hoped, but I can 
now confidently say, after more than three years of trial, that in fol- 
lowing his advice I found the true Key to the situation. [Applause 
and cheers.] . . . 

Indebted, therefore, as I am, at all points, to this institution, I wish 
to thank you ; and, graduate as I have been made to-day, I find myself 
thanking myself while I am thanking you. There is another point to 
which I wish to allude, and yet it is not a point, for it has length, and 
breadth, and thickness. There is an old saying, "You can lead a horse 
to water, but you cannot make him drink." Knowing the desire of the 
American people that their representative to the nation to which we so 
largely trace our lineage should be a man reared up to the full stature of 
a mental and moral manhood, and wishing to select the best type of 
American character, in that emergency again I turned to Yale, and 
found just the man. I reversed the old adage in this case, for I brought 
the water to the horse, but President Porter would n't drink. [Ap- 
plause.] And he was altogether right in refusing to accept the position 
tendered to him. 

Any Administration, and any country, is more indebted to the man 
who is engaged in educating the people than it is to those who are its 
executive and administrative oflScers. The Executive is but the figure- 
head at best. The real government resides at last in the men who, 
figuratively speaking, stand at the helm, and have charge of the boilers 
and engine — the men who form and guide the public opinion which 
propels the ship and directs its course. The head of such an institu- 
tion as this, where moral and intellectual culture are combined, is the 
man who forms men, who control not only the figurehead but control 
the nation, I wish here publicly to return thanks to the man who had 



288 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the judgment to give sucli an example to the nation. "VVTiether Yale's 
sons guide or act as the figurehead of the Nation, I know they will be 
an honor to you. Any Administration that is a good one, or desires to 
be a good one, must ever be grateful to such an institution as this. 
[Applause and cheers.] 

A few weeks later Mr. Hayes with his family made the usual 
anmial visit to his home at Fremont. From there he attended 
the reunion of the Ohio veterans at Columbus (August 11) and 
of his old regiment at Canton (September 1). Already at this 
time the Presidential campaign had begun and men's thoughts 
were becoming absorbed in the rival contentions of the two 
great parties. The President was, of course, intensely interested 
in the contest and most desirous for the success of General Gar- 
field. But, unlike Presidents of a later day, he thought it un- 
becoming to his position to take an active part in the campaign; 
and in all his speeches he refrained from any discussion of 
pending issues. Both at Columbus and at Canton he urged the 
desirability and propriety of national aid to popular education. 
This subject, which was for many years to command his at- 
tention and enlist his endeavors, had for some time been upper- 
most in his thought. It is altogether probable that the exercise 
of his duties as a member of the board of trustees of the Peabody 
Education Fund, to which he was chosen in the first year of his 
Administration, had much to do in turning his mind so strongly 
in this direction. He had come to think, as had many other able 
and patriotic men, that the enormous mass of ignorance in the 
South was too much for the old slaveholding States in their 
impoverished condition to cope with alone; that the safety and 
perpetuity of our institutions depended on an intelligent elec- 
torate, and that therefore some method should be devised of 
granting national assistance to the common school systems of 
the various States.^ It is hardly necessary to recall that this 
proposal was the subject of years of debate in Congress and of 

1 Mr. Hayes urged this policy upon Congress in all his annual messages. The 
success of our institutions, he argued, depended on the virtue and intelligence of 
the people. "It is vain," he said, "to hope for the success of a free government 
without the means of insuring the intelligence of those who are the source of 
power." And with one seventh of the entire voting population illiterate, he 
thought the burden of education too great for the States alone to bear, especially 
those of the South where the greatest proportion of illiteracy existed and where 
the States were least able to struggle with the problem. 



THE PACIFIC COAST — EDUCATION 289 

endless discussion in newspapers, magazines, and reviews, and 
that the judgment of the country finally pronounced against its 
adoption, as being an invasion by national authority of a prov- 
ince peculiarly belonging to the individual States. But that 
the proposition was inspired by motives of the highest benev- 
olence and was one worthy of the most serious consideration, 
every thoughtful man acknowledged. The earnest plea of the 
President in its behalf was based on grounds that demanded and 
received the respectful examination of publicists and statesmen. 
At Columbus Mr. Hayes said : — 

The citizens of Ohio who were soldiers in the Union army, and who 
have assembled here in such large numbers, have many reasons for 
mutual congratulations as they exchange greetings and renew old 
friendships at this state reunion. We rejoice that we had the glorious 
privilege of enlisting and serving on the right side in the great conflict 
for the Union and for equal rights. 

The time that has passed since the contest ended is not so great but 
that we can without effort recall freshly and ^'ividly the events and 
scenes and feelings and associations of that most interesting period of 
our lives. We rejoice, also, that we have been permitted to live long 
enough to see and to enjoy the results of the victory we gained, and to 
measure the vast benefits which it conferred on our country and on the 
world. . . . 

It must, perhaps, be conceded that there was one great error in the 
measures by which it was sought to secure the results — to harvest the 
fruits of our Union victory. The system of slavery in the South of neces- 
sity kept in ignorance four millions of slaves. It also left unprovided 
with education a large number of non-slaveholding white people. With 
the end of the war the slaves inevitably became citizens. The unedu- 
cated whites remained as they had been, also citizens. Thus the grave 
duties and responsibilities of citizenship were devolved largely, in the 
States lately in rebellion, upon uneducated people, white and colored. 
And with what result.^ Liberty and the exercise of the rights of citi- 
zenship are excellent educators. In many respects, we are glad to be- 
lieve that encouraging progress has been made at the South. The labor 
system has been reorganized, material prosperity is increasing, race 
prejudices and antagonisms have diminished, the passions and ani- 
mosities of the war are subsiding, and the ancient harmony and con- 
cord and patriotic national sentiments are returning. But, after all, 
we cannot fail to observe that immigration, which so infallibly and 
instinctively finds out the true condition of all countries, does not 
largely go into the late slaveholding region of the United States. A 
great deal of cheap and productive land can there be found where 
population is not rapidly increasing. When our Revolutionary fathers 



290 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

adopted the Ordinance of 1787, for the government of the Northwest 
Territory, out of which Ohio and four other great States have been 
carved, they were not content with merely putting into that organic 
law a firm prohibition against slavery, and providing eflfectual guar- 
anties of civil and religious liberty, but they established, as the corner- 
stone of the free institutions they wished to build, this article : " Religion, 
morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and 
the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall 
forever be encouraged." Unfortunately for the complete success of 
reconstruction in the South, this stone was rejected by its builders. 
Slavery has been destroyed by the war; but its evils hve after it, and 
deprive many parts of the South of that intelligent self-government 
without which, in America at least, great and permanent prosperity is 
impossible. 

To perpetuate the Union and to abolish slavery were the work of the 
war. To educate the uneducated is the appropriate work of peace. As 
long as any considerable numbers of our countrymen are uneducated, 
the citizenship of every American in every State is impaired in value 
and is constantly imperilled. It is plain that at the end of the war the 
tremendous change in the labor and social systems of the Southern 
States, and the ravages and impoverishment of the conflict, added to 
the burden of their debts, and the loss of their whole circulating medium, 
which tlied in their hands, left the people of those States in no condition 
to provide for universal popular education. In a recent memorial to 
Congress on this subject, in behalf of the trustees of the Peabody Edu- 
cation Fund, Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, shows that "two mil- 
lions of cliildren in the Southern States are without the means of in- 
struction"; and adds, with great force: "Where millions of citizens are 
growing up in the grossest ignorance, it is obvious that neither individual 
charity nor the resources of impoverished States will be sufficient to 
meet the emergency. Nothing short of the wealth and power of the 
Federal Government will suffice to overcome the evil." 

The principle applied by general consent to works of public improve- 
ment is in point. That principle is, that wherever a public improvement 
is of national importance, and local and private enterprise is inade- 
quate to its prosecution, the general Government should undertake it. 
On this principle I would deal with the question of education l)y the 
aid of the National Government. Wherever in the United States the 
local systems of popular education are inadequate, they should be sup- 
plemented by the general Government, by devoting to the purpose, by 
suitable legislation and with proper safeguards, the public lands, or, 
if necessary, ai)propriations from the Treasury of the United States. 

The soldier of the Union has done his work, and has done it well. The 
work of the schoolmaster is now in order. Wherever his work shall be 
well done, in all our borders, it will be found that there, also, the prin- 
ciples of the Declaration of Independence will be cherished, the senti- 
ment of nationaUty will prevail, the equal rights amendments will be 



THE PACIFIC COAST — EDUCATION 291 

cheerfully obeyed, and there will be "the home of freedom and the 
refuge of the oppressed of every race and of every clime." 

At Canton, recurring to this subject, the President said : — 

The means at the command of the local and state authorities are in 
many cases wholly inadequate to deal with the question. The magni- 
tude of the evil to be eradicated is not, I apprehend, generally and fully 
understood. Consider these facts: — 

1. By the latest available statistics it appears that in 1878 the total 
school population, white and colored, in the late slaveholding States, 
was 5,187,584, and that only 2,710,096 were during that year enrolled 
in any school. This leaves 2,477,488 — almost two and a half millions 
— of the young who are growing up without the means of education. 
Citizenship and the right to vote were conferred upon the colored peo- 
ple by the Government and people of the United States. It is, there- 
fore, the sacred duty, as it is the highest interest, of the United States 
to see that these new citizens and voters are fitted by education for the 
grave responsibility which has been cast upon them. 

2. In the Territories of the United States it is estimated that there 
are over two hundred thousand Indians, almost all of whom are un- 
civihzed. . . . The solution of the Indian question will speedily be either 
the extinction of the Indians or their absorption into American citi- 
zenship by means of the civilizing influences of education. With the 
disappearance of game there can no longer remain Indian hunters or 
warriors. . . . 

3. The people of the Territory of New Mexico have never been 
provided with the means of education. The number of people in that 
Territory in 1870, ten years old and upwards, who could not read and 
write, was 52,220. This is largely more than half the population. The 
school population is now over thirty thousand, of whom only about one 
sixth are enrolled in schools. It will not be questioned that the power 
of the general Government to make all needful rules and regulations 
respecting the territory belonging to the United States is sufficient to 
authorize it to provide for the education of the increasing mass of il- 
hterate citizens growing up in New Mexico and in the other Territories 
of the United States. 

4. The number of immigrants arriving in the United States is greater 
than ever before. It is not improbable, from present indications, that, 
from this source alone, there will be added, during the current decade, 
to the population of our country five millions of people. ... It may 
reasonably be estimated that at least from twenty to twentj'-five per 
cent of the immigrants are illiterate. In the current decade we shall 
probably receive from abroad more than a million of people of school 
age and upwards who are unable to read and write any language; and 
of these, about a quarter of a million, in a few years, will share with us 
equally, man for man, the duties and responsibilities of the citizen and 
the voter. 



292 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Jefferson, with his almost marvellous sagacity and foresight, de- 
clared nearly a hundred years ago, that free schools were an essential 
part — one of the columns, as he expressed it — of the republican 
edifice, and that, "without instruction free to all, the sacred flame of 
liberty could not be kept burning in the hearts of Americans." 

Madison said, almost sixty years ago: "A popular government, with- 
out popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue 
to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both." 

Already, in too many instances, elections have become the farce which 
Madison predicted; and the tremendous tragedy which we saw when 
we were soldiers of the Union, and in which we bore a part, could never 
have occurred if in all sections of our country there had been universal 
suffrage based upon universal education. In our country, as everywhere 
else, it will be found that, in the long run, ignorant voters are powder 
and ball for the demagogues. The failure to support free schools in 
any part of our country tends to cheapen and degrade the right of 
suffrage, and will ultimately destroy its value in every other part of the 
Republic. 

The unvarying testimony of liistory is, that the nations which win 
the most renowned victories in peace and war are those which provide 
ample means for popular education. Without free schools, there is no 
such thing as affording to "every man an unfettered start and a fair 
chance in the race of life." In the present condition of our country, 
universal education requires the aid of the general Government. The 
authority to grant such aid is establislied by a line of precedents, be- 
ginning with the origin of the Republic and running down through al- 
most every administration to the present time. Let this aid be granted 
wherever it is essential to the enjoyment of free popular instruction. 

In the language of Mr. Webster: "The census of these States shows 
how great a proportion of the whole population occupies the classes 
between infancy and manhood. These are the wide fields, and here is 
the deep and quick soil for the seeds of knowledge and virtue; and this 
is the favored season — the very spring-time for sowing them. Let 
them be disseminated without stint. Let them be scattered with a 
bountiful hand broadcast. Whatever the Government can fairly do 
toward these objects, in my opinion, ought to be done." ^ 

^ Mr. Hayes gave voice to the same sentiments in a letter of August 24, 1880, 
to Frank Hatton, editor of the Burlington, Iowa, Hatckeye, which was used as a 
campaign document. He wrote: — 

"General Garfield said in New York: 'These veterans of the war meet to-night 
to stand guard around the sacred truths for which we fought.' The truths for 
which we fought are national unity, the supremacy of the National Government, 
and the equal rights of all men before the law. 

"The perpetuity of the Union is established. The supremacy of the National 
Government, although still doubted by many and denied in some influential 
quarters, has been so fully sustained by the Supreme Court in the masterly opin- 
ions, recently delivered in relation to the new Constitutional Amendments and 



THE PACIFIC COAST — EDUCATION 293 

The President ended his speech with a review of the financial 
condition of the Government and words of rejoicing at the great 
and growing prosperity of the country. 

On leaving Canton Mr. Hayes started immediately on his 
transcontinental journey. He was accompanied by Mrs. Hayes 
and two of his sons (Birchard and Rutherford); General Sher- 
man and daughter; General and Mrs. Mitchell, and other inti- 
mate friends. At Omaha Secretary Ramsey joined the party. 
At all towns where the President's train halted, crowds of people 
were assembled to give the travellers noisy greeting, and usually 
the President and General Sherman made brief speeches. The 
tour lasted two months, the principal cities visited being Chey- 
enne, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Virginia City, San Francisco, 
Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Tucson, Santa Fe, 
and Denver. It involved travel not only by railway and 
steamer, but also many days by stage with primitive accom- 
modations at night. Several days were spent in San Francisco, 
and from there, as well as from other cities, many excursions to 
places of interest near by were made. Everywhere enthusiastic 
throngs welcomed the President's party; and cities, civic socie- 
ties, and local notables vied with one another in devising public 
demonstrations and arranging elaborate private entertainments. 
In California especially parades, receptions, balls, banquets, and 
sight-seeing expeditions left the visitors hardly time sufficient 
for rest; and the orators and versifiers of the State exhausted 

the validity of the federal election laws, that hereafter we may confidently expect, 
in every conflict between state laws and the constitutional laws of the United 
States, that the latter will be held by the general consent of the country to be of 
paramount authority and obligation; and that the right of final decision as to 
the constitutionality of the laws of Congress resides in the Supreme Court of the 
United States will also be generally accepted as the true doctrine. 

"It cannot, however, be gainsaid that there is still in om- country a dangerous 
practical denial of the equal rights with respect to voting secin-ed to colored citi- 
zens by the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. One of the cogent argu- 
ments in favor of extending the right of suffrage to the freedmen was that it 
would furnish them with the means of self -protection. It was hoped and believed 
that with the right to vote they could assert and maintain all of their other rights. 
It has been found, however, that the ballot, like every other weapon of human 
contrivance, to be effective, must be wielded by the skill and intelligence which 
training and education alone can give. To guard the sacred truth of equal rights 
we must go one step further. We should furnish to all our countrymen the means 
for that instruction and knowledge without which wise and honest self-govern- 
ment is impossible." 



294 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the vocabulary of greeting and acclaim. ^ As on all the pre- 
vious journeys of the President among the people in various 
parts of the country, Mrs. Hayes shared the public honors and 
manifestations of popular approval with her husband and was 
the recipient of innumerable special attentions. ^ The addresses 
made by the President throughout this tour were of the most 
informal and familiar character, adapted with instinctive tact 
to the varying circumstances of locality and occasion. They 
glowed with appreciation of the people's cordiality of welcome; 
they were eloquent in admiration of the glories of the mountain 
scenery, and in expressing constantly increasing surprise at the 
wonderful resources and at the development already accom- 
plished of the Far Western country. In all respects he had found 
his anticipations outstripped by the facts. If he touched at all 
on questions of national concern, it was to plead for natiooal 
unity and to seek to arouse interest in the cause of national 
education which he had discussed in Ohio. The most important 

^ " Calif ornians rejoice in having among them at this moment the first Presi- 
dent of the United States who has ever visited them whilst in office. He is receiv- 
ing everywhere, and from everybody, just that kind of whole-souled welcome 
that was to be expected at the hands of our people. He is receiving it, first, be- 
cause of the respect due to his high office, and secondly, because of the esteem in 
which he and his family are personally held. He is not receiving it on any parti- 
san or sectional grounds. . . . Though he took office at a difficult time, under 
most trj'ing circumstances, and by the aid of dangerous — because extreme parti- 
san — supporters, yet he rose to the full height of his obligations to all sections. 
He cut adrift from the men who expected to use him for evil, and who are cha- 
grined because they could not, and he wisely, generously, and most manfully 
gave peace to those who were sorely in need of it. He has purified the public serv- 
ice, cleansed the official atmosphere of Washington, set a sober, moral, and in 
every way noble example of private and public life. He has stood firmly by 
sound finance, and so done not a little to promote the present prosperity. He has 
intrigued for no second term, but is content to hand over the Government, at the 
proper time, to his successor. Take it altogether, his course has been admirable. 
It has been creditable to himself and worthy of the country. That all being true, 
we should have proven ourselves unworthy of California's fair fame if we had 
extended to our President and his family a less hearty welcome than he and they 
are now receiving." (San Francisco News Letter, September 11, 1880.) 

^ At San Jose, for example, the Women's Christian Temperance Union gave 
her a great reception and presented her with a beautiful silken banner, inscribed 
with her name and bearing the Bible quotation, " She hath done what she could." 
A poem comparing her with Una was read, the last stanza being: — 

"Hark while we pledge her, not with sparkling wine. 
But in our sweetest, purest, brightest water — 
Long life, and all good gifts of God be hers. 
Our Lady of the Light — Our Nation's Daughter!" 



THE PACIFIC COAST — EDUCATION 295 

and serious speech of the entire journey was made from the steps 
of the capitol at Sacramento (September 22) in response to an 
address of welcome by Governor Perkins. After speaking of 
the impressions received during his two weeks of travel in 
California the President, with frequent interruptions of ap- 
plause, said : — 

What is to be the future of this beautiful land? It seems to me that 
the people of the Pacific Coast have upon them a great responsibility. 
It is an old theme of discussion, I know, in debating societies, as to 
whether man's fortunes in this world, their successes and failures, are 
due more to the circumstances attending them or to their characters, 
their capacity. It is just the same in relation to communities, whether 
the circumstance attending them will make them great and successful 
and happy, or whether it is mostly and chiefly their own integrity and 
character. Now, let me say, in my judgment, there is no equal number 
of people anywhere in the United States having such advantages and 
opportunities to do great service to the nation and mankind as the mil- 
lion or million and a hah of people inhabiting what are known as the 
Pacific States and Territories of the United States. You occupy seven- 
teen degrees of latitude on the Pacific Ocean; then with a little gap it 
goes on the Pacific again clear to the polar regions, to the peninsula 
of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, stretching across like a great scythe, 
sweeping at one grand swath the commerce of these oceans into the 
matchless bay of San Francisco — that city now, hereafter, and al- 
ways, to be the Queen City of the Pacific. This is what you possess 
geographically. You have your mines of inexhaustible wealth, and your 
commerce; you have the capacity for a population not less than that 
of our whole country at the present time; fifty millions can live upon 
this stretch of territory. And now the question is, Will this people that 
has done so much already, use these advantages so as to benefit the 
nation and mankind? 

Our fathers, who lived just along the margin of the Atlantic, going 
scarcely beyond the tidewater of the Atlantic Ocean, began one hun- 
dred years ago to build up a nation upon new principles. They stood 
upon three great principles, set forth in three great charters. It seems 
to me that if we shall regard those charters — if we shall embody in our 
own, in our institutions, those principles, we shall be able to go forward 
conquering and to conquer. First, there is the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence; second, the Ordinance of 1787, for the government of the 
territory northwest of the Ohio; third, our Constitution. I shall not 
detain you with any lengthy discussion of the principles of those great 
instruments, but merely name the principles. 

First, then, the Declaration of Independence. It embodies the senti- 
ment expressed by Lincoln: "Let every man have a fair start and an 
equal chance in the race of life." It expressed the sentiment of the 



296 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Divine Master: "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." 
It is the great corner-stone — "Equal rights of all men before the law." 
That is the very foundation-stone of our institutions. My friends, that 
victory is alone worth having — that victory which causes the soldier 
the greatest delight — which is won after a long and stubborn fight — 
victory snatched out of the very jaws of defeat. Then, whatever diffi- 
culties you have here with these great questions, they will all work out 
right if the Anglo-Saxon race will stand on that great principle of equal 
rights of all men. 

Now, the next one, the Ordinance of 1787. If you are to have one 
race, equal suffrage, universal suffrage, you can only do it by having 
universal education. Religion, morality, and knowledge are essential 
to good government, and therefore free schools should be encouraged. 
With the motto of equal rights and universal education, every com- 
munity is safe. 

Now for the third and last. What is the essence of the Constitution? 
Is it not this: That this country, all these States, with their different 
names, their different methods of local government, their different ways, 
belong at last to one Union, which is to be perpetual, and over all one 
supreme government controlling the things which are of general in- 
terest to all the people of the United States, and leaving the local self- 
government to control, under certain limitations, the things that belong 
only to the locality? 

Now, with these three principles we are safe. Think of the difference 
of one government over all these States from what it would be if there 
were thirty -eight sovereign governments over them, each State with its 
flag, each State with its navy, with its army, with its immense debt. 
Why, my friends, if the Rebellion had succeeded, and this country had 
been torn into separate confederacies, what would the world ever care 
for the flag of any State, however great? Little jarring communities, 
thirty-eight of them, rivals of each other, their flags would command 
no respect abroad. And now, with one flag, and one country, and one 
Constitution, and one destiny, where are we? We have the judgment 
of the world on that question. As I said at the soldiers' reunion in 
Ohio, and I say it to you now, there is one flag in the world, and only 
one, which no good man or woman ever wishes to leave for any other 
flag. There is one flag in the world, and there is only one. that good 
men and women, born under another flag are glad to fly to, leaving 
the flag under which they were born. That is the world's judgment in 
favor of the institutions and the flag of the United States. 

I am glad to meet you in California, and I say to you that we are 
looking to you as the vanguard of progress. As civilization advances 
we have generally moved to the westward. You have got to the end of 
the march. You have reached the margin, and now it is for you — and 
I believe you may safely be trusted with that destiny — to see that in 
the future, as in the past, American institutions and the American name 
shall lose nothing at your hands. 



THE PACIFIC COAST— EDUCATION 297 

The President arrived at his Fremont home, after his long 
journeying, early Monday morning, November 1. The evening 
of that day the Republicans of the town assembled and marched 
with torches, band playing, to Spiegel Grove. In response to 
their greeting the President made his one brief political speech of 
the campaign. He began by saying: — 

It is too late now to enter upon a political discussion. The important 
question which has engaged the American people for the last three 
months has been presented, and it is now too late to discuss it. I may 
state what seems to me to be the question which will be decided to- 
morrow. We are interested, all of us, in the national unity, in the 
supremacy of the general Government. We are interested, all of us, 
in the general prosperity which the American people now enjoy. The 
desire of our citizens everywhere is that this national unity shall be 
preserved; that this prosperity which we are now enjoying shall be con- 
tinued, and the desire of good citizens must be to-morrow to achieve 
those results. 

These results, together with the preservation of the protective 
system and of a sound currency, he urged, could best be achieved 
by the election of General Garfield. Two days after the election 
he was at Cleveland and shared in the celebration of the Re- 
publican victory. He rejoiced that the majority was so great 
that there could be no dispute over the result. He rejoiced be- 
cause he knew that General Garfield was worthy of the success 
he had achieved; he was "the model self-made man in our 
history — the best illustration and example of what, under our 
institutions, may occur to the humblest boy, an example of what 
can be done in a country where all have a fair start and an equal 
chance in the race of life." And he rejoiced because he felt sure 
that under Garfield's wise, moderate, and firm administration 
the country would enjoy an era of unequalled prosperity, and 
that every part of the country would continue to be fairly and 
justly dealt with. 

On the following day to the Republican Business Men's Club, 
which in entertaining him gave his Administration large credit 
for the Republican victory, the President modestly said: — 

The very complimentary remarks we have just listened to contain 
some things which are rather extravagant, but which I have occasion- 
ally heard and which I cannot reply to with more than the simple 
expression of my gratitude that my friends feel moved so to speak. It 



298 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

has been my firm purpose to do that which appeared to me for the good 
of the whole country and that of each and all of its inhabitants. I have 
believed the principles of the Republican party were so just and gen- 
erally wholesome that whatever was done for the true welfare of the 
country would tend to the establishment of those principles in public 
estimation. I have acted in strict accordance with my belief, hereto- 
fore expressed, that that which best serves our country serves best our 
party. I rejoice that at the close of my term of office, or so near that 
close that my successor has been elected, my friends are able to feel 
that in strictly doing that which seemed {or the best interest of the 
whole country, I have to some extent promoted the success of the Re- 
publican party. I am glad to be able to feel the principle is established 
that the man who thinks what is best, and will at the same time do 
what is best for all the people, will also be doing that which is best for 
the Republican party. 

The President returned to Washington with a Hght heart, 
justly feeUng that the country by its decisive vote for General 
Garfield had expressed its approval of his Administration. He 
was ready to meet the duties and responsibilities of his remaining 
months of service with serenity and steadiness of purpose, re- 
joicing that the goal of retirement was so close at hand, and that 
the task he was about to lay down was to be taken up by a 
man whose political principles and purposes were in substantial 
accord with his own. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 

THE entrance of Mr. Hayes and his family into the White 
House marked the beginning of a period of greater sim- 
phcity and moderation in the social life of the Capital. Osten- 
tation, extravagance, and vulgar display of wealth, which had 
grown to be familiar features of the society of Washington, 
demoralizing in their influence on the younger members and 
attended not infrequently with positive excesses of conduct, 
gradually gave way to "nobler modes of life, with sweeter man- 
ners, purer laws," under the force of the example of the White 
House, where the best traditions of genuine American family life 
were preserved; harmonious, sincere, natural, and hospitable.^ 

^ The press of the day is full of comment and commendation of the new condi- 
tions. For example, an editorial article in the Philadelphia Times (Colonel A. K. 
McClm"e, editor) of March 30 says : — 

" Mrs. Hayes deserves the thanks of every true woman for the stand which she 
has taken against extravagance in dress. She has carried to the WTiite House the 
same quiet dignity and ladylike simplicity for which she was distinguished at 
home; and her dress on public occasions, while invariably handsome and becom- 
ing the wife of the President, has also been invariably unostentatious. At the 
inauguration she wore merely rich black silk with real laces, and no jewels save 
the brooch at her throat. At the state dinner given by President and Mrs. Grant 
to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes her dress was a cameo-tinted silk, high in the neck and 
trimmed with fringe and lace. She wore no jewels, and her thick brown hair was 
brushed plainly over her brow and fastened at the back with a tortoise-shell 
comb. At even her first reception as mistress of the White House her toilet was 
remarkable for its simple elegance rather than for brilhancy or cost. Thus early 
was the example set. 

" Society in Washington during the past few years has been chiefly remarkable 
for its reckless extravagance, and in nothing has that extravagance been carried to 
greater lengths than in the dress of its women. The newspapers have teemed with 
stories of this; how thousands of dollars have frequently been spent on a single 
toilet. It has been openly, and no doubt truthfully, alleged that much of the cor- 
ruption which disgraced the late Administration arose from the desire that wives 
and daughters might be gorgeously arrayed on state occasions." 

In this connection the pen-portrait of Mrs. Hayes, as she appeared on the day 
of the inauguration, by the well-known newspaper writer, Mary Clemmer, is 
interesting: " Meanwhile on this man of whom every one in the nation is thinking, 
a fair woman between two little children looks down. She has a singularly gentle 



300 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The White House became for the time being, so far as its domes- 
tic life was concerned, an American home of the best tj^^e, in 
which splendor of appointments and pomp of entertainments 
were so dominated by the unaffected good taste and naturalness 
which directed their use that they were felt to be wholly subor- 
dinate and incidental. Neither the President nor Mrs. Hayes 
attached overmuch importance to the "trappings and suits," 
the millinery and parade, of official eminence. All that was right 
and dignified and becoming to the Presidential station was 
quietly observed, while artificial distinction, flunkeyism, "fuss 
and feathers," were conspicuously lacking, and a veritably demo- 
cratic spirit prevailed. 

The President's family in the White House consisted regu- 
larly of his second son, Webb Cook Hayes, just out of Cornell 
when his father was elected, and the two young children, Fanny 

and winning face. It looks out from the bands of smooth dark hair with that ten- 
der light in the eyes which we have come to associate always with the Madonna. 
I have never seen such a face reign in the White House. I wonder what the world 
of Vanity Fair will do with it? Will it frizz that hair? — powder that face? — 
draw those sweet, fine lines away with pride? — hide John Wesley's discipline 
out of sight, as it poses and minces before the first lady of the land? 'VMiat will she 
do with it, this woman of the hearth and home? Strong as she is fair, will she have 
the grace to use it as not abusing it; to be in it, yet not of it; priestess of a religion 
pure and undefiled, holding the white lamp of her womanhood unshaken and 
unsullied, high above the heated crowd that fawns and flatters and soils? The 
Lord in heaven knows. All that I know is that Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are the finest- 
looking type of man and woman that I have seen take up their abode in the 
White House." 

Vanity Fair, dm-ing all the years in the White House, did not change Mrs. 
Hayes, unless it was to strengthen her in the graces of character. Miss Clemmer 
testifies to this in the Independent the week after the close of the Administration. 
Miss Clemmer became herself personally devoted to Mrs. Hayes and was often 
the recipient of flowers from the White House. June 7, 1880, in acknowledgment 
of a magnolia grandiflora, she addressed the following sonnet to Mrs. Hayes: — 

"O peerless blossom! Fold on fold of snow 

Lieth unsullied on thy golden heart, 
Shutting from careless eyes the inner glow 

Half flame, half fr.agrance, burning deep apart 
Core of thy being. O'er thee rude winds blow, 

And voices harsh roll inward from the mart, 
And dust of highways on thy petals blow 

But pure as ether thou dost bloom apart. 

"Like her who sent thee unto me thou art! V 

Thy mystic cup, thy consecrated wine! 5 

Thy stainless gold lit by white faith divine, •}' 

Its samite folded o'er thy glowing heart, 

Thy state of womanhood star-like doth shine, 
Regina, reigning at Love's holiest shrine." 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 301 

and Scott. There were frequent visits during vacation times 
from the two other sons: Birchard, attending the Harvard Law 
School and later entering on the practice of his profession in 
Toledo; and Rutherford, a student at Cornell. Miss Emily 
Piatt, a niece of the President, from Columbus, Ohio, spent many- 
months at the White House; and other relatives came for longer 
or shorter stays. Each winter during the social season Mrs. 
Hayes kept the White House full of young ladies, the daughters 
of old friends or of the newer friends that the amenities of public 
life and her unfailing grace of personality won for her in great 
number. These guests, who flooded the house with the light 
and joy of enthusiastic youth, under the gentle stimulus and 
sympathetic guidance of its mistress, never ceased in their after 
years to recall with pride and elation the endless experiences 
of the days glorified for them by "the first lady of the land." 
Lapse of time only deepened the impression made by her serenity 
and poise and benignity, which never deserted her, however 
freely she displayed her delight or engaged in the simple and 
innocent joys of life. 

Mr. Hayes made few changes in the domestic force of the 
White House or in the clerks of the executive office, several of 
whom had already been at their posts since Lincoln's time. 
William T. Crump, who had been his orderly in the army, was 
installed as steward; he was a faithful and efficient man and 
remained in the White House service for many years. ^ His 
private secretary was William K. Rogers, who had been his 
friend since early manhood, and who was for a brief period his 
partner in the first years of his law practice at Cincinnati. Mr. 
Hayes had wished one of his more intimate friends, either 

1 Winnie Monroe, a colored woman, who had long been a servant in the Hayes 
household, continued in that capacity in the White House. She was fat, good- 
natured, and efBcient. " Both Winnie and Crump were devoted to their employ- 
ers. ... In my recollection there never has been a time when the White House 
was so well served. It was such a glorious period for Winnie that she was not at 
all contented, when, with the Hayes family, she retired to Ohio and private life. 
She soon was back in Washington. 'Law. chile,' she remarked to one of her fel- 
low officials who had remained in the White House service, ' I cain't stay in no 
Ohio — not af tah I been the f u'st culled lady in de Ian' ! ' . . . WTien Winnie died, 
not long afterward, the daughter sent to General Hayes for help. The general 
telegraphed me from Ohio to make all the necessary funeral arrangements and 
send the bill to him." (William H. Crook, Through Five Administrations.) 



302 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HA\^S 

William Henry Smith, former Secretary of State of Ohio and 
at that time the General Agent of the Western Associated Press, 
or General M. F. Force, one of Sherman's able division com- 
manders, at that time a judge in Cincinnati, to be his secretary; 
but Mr. Smith's engagements would not permit him to consider 
the question, and General Force regarded the position, which 
had usually been held by a young man and had not as yet been 
rated either in salary or honor at its intrinsic importance, as 
hardly comporting with his age and dignity. So the choice had 
fallen on Mr. Rogers, who was a man of scholarly tastes, of 
pleasant manners, and of dignified appearance, but who was 
deficient in practical sagacity, inexperienced in public affairs, 
and unacquainted with public men. He had tried the ministry, 
the law, and business pursuits without achieving success; and 
always Mr. Hayes had come to his rescue when he was in straits, 
— remaining true to the early friendship and finding pleasure in 
his loyalty and his agreeable personality.^ He proved capable 
enough for the ordinary routine duties of his post; but the more 
delicate and difficult functions, which reciuired quick intuition 
of political forces, knowledge of men, and apprehension of the 
currents of public opinion, were quite beyond his depth. The 
result was that some misunderstandings and embarrassments 
came about in the relations of the White House with the news- 
paper correspondents and with public men which a wiser and 
more tactful private secretary would have been quick to fore- 
stall. The ineffectiveness of Mr. Rogers was in large measure 
offset, however, by the President's son, Webb, who acted as 
confidential secretary, and who, young as he was, showed such 
tact and good sense in the performance of his duties as to win 
general respect and confidence. He was always present at 
Cabinet meetings, ready to supply any papers that might be 
required. 
y^ The President was most methodical in his habits of life and 

^ " W. K. Rogers, my old friend, and with me as private secretary during my 
term as President at Washington. A man of fine culture, noble sentiments, a 
true friend. Too guileless for practical life and so unselfish and unsuspecting that 
his business ventures have generally been failures. He is interested witli me at 
Duluth. Hence his visit. . . . Rogers left for home, via Wellington. 3 p.m. He 
added two thousand dollars to the debts for which I am his surety." (Diary, 
November 2G, 1887.) 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 303 

work. He rose at seven and busied himself with writing until 
breakfast was announced, at half-past eight. Breakfast was fol- 
lowed by morning prayers. A chapter of the Bible was read, 
each person present reading a verse in turn, and then all knelt 
and recited in unison the Lord's Prayer. Thereupon the Presi- 
dent went immediately to his office and gave himself to the dis- 
patch of business until ten o'clock. The next two hours were 
spent in the Cabinet room where callers were received, members 
of Congress having precedence of all visitors except Cabinet 
Ministers, Persons who came merely to show respect were ad- 
mitted in small groups from time to time and had to be content 
with a handshake and a simple word of greeting. Tuesdays and 
Fridays were the regular days for Cabinet meeting, which oc- 
cupied the time from twelve to two. On other days these hours 
were devoted to callers who came to present all sorts of questions 
of public business and official patronage. In such conferences 
the President constantly surprised the politicians from remote 
parts of the country with his intimate knowledge of the men and 
the political conditions in their particular States. While in- 
variably courteous he knew how to terminate an interview when 
he chose, and his usually mild voice could on occasion assume 
notes of sternness and decisiveness which awed the importunate 
or aggressive visitor and sent him away, if not satisfied or 
convinced, at least with heightened respect for the President's 
dignity and power. 

The Cabinet discussions were conducted in the most informal 
way,^ each member freely expressing his judgment or urging his 

* "The members of the Cabinet drop in one by one, but they are all on hand 
by twelve o'clock. Each member brings his portfolio. The President sits at the 
head of the table and Secretary Schurz at the foot; on the right next to the Presi- 
dent is the Secretary of State, next to him the Secretary of War, and beyond him 
the Postmaster-General. On the left next to the President sits the Secretary of 
the Treasury, and next to him the Secretary of the Navy, and next to the Secre- 
tary of the Interior on that side, the Attorney-General. After the Cabinet meets 
it is ten or fifteen minutes before the members get to work. That ten minutes is 
taken up in greetings and offhand talk, in which the spirit of fun and humor crops 
out a good deal. The Cabinet are all men with a sunny, fun-loving side when out 
of official harness. Judge Key is, perhaps, the joUiest, though the Attorney- 
General pushes him hard for that distinction. Secretary Thompson is a proverbial 
lover of a pleasant joke, while Secretary Schurz is hardly equalled in telling one. 
Secretary McCrary is a good story-teller. Secretary Sherman does not indulge in 
humor often, but when he does, it is, on account of its imexpected character, the 



% 



304 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

views on any question of public policy or governmental action 
that was propounded. On no occasion, whatever differences of 
opinion appeared in the Cabinet debates, did acrimonious dis- 
putes arise. The members were not in every instance completely 
at one in approving the policy or action that seemed wisest to 
the President. But on all the great questions that came in 
controversy, the President's judgment, when finally determined, 
commanded the support of either all or a decided majority of 
his ministers. 

At two o'clock luncheon was served; a simple meal of bread 
and butter, tea, and cold meats. Usually the President invited 
some visitor with whom he desired a longer conference than the 
business hours afforded to share the meal with him; though 
affairs of state were not allowed to absorb the attention to the 
exclusion of topics of general interest. The luncheon was so 
informal that it was always an occasion for the cheerful inter- 
change of views on whatever topics were uppermost in the 
thought and discussions of the day. 

After luncheon the President began the examination of the 
correspondence of the day. An index of all the letters received 
was submitted to him, giving a brief epitome of the purport of 
each. He checked off such as he desired to read, and these were 
laid before him, each letter in a separate long envelope on which 
was written in clerkly hand the name of the sender and a con- 
cise statement of its subject. The President seldom dictated 
letters to a stenographer. He wrote many letters, most of them 
short, with his own hand, rarely retaining copies. In the case of 

more enjoyable. Secretary Evarts is one of those of the quietly humorous sort. 
His fund of dry humor and wit is inexhaustible, and though not uproarious ia 
keenly enjoyable. The President has probably the heartiest Cabinet that any 
President ever assembled around him. The old bores who keep at them day by 
day are unmercifully dealt with by the heads of the departments when they 
assemble. The Attorney-General seems to take a peculiar delight in joking Sec- 
retary Thompson. At a recent Cabinet meeting the Naval Secretary took with 
him a list of midshipmen who had passed their examinations. The Secretary 
called attention to them and said he would like that their nominations for pro- 
motion to ensigns be sent to the Senate as soon as possible,' as they are worthy 
young men who have thoroughly earned their spurs.' 'IVIr. Thompson,' inter- 
rupted Mr. Devens, 'how long since have they been wearing spurs in the navy?' 
After this ten minutes' of boy play before school, the President calls the meeting 
to order. The regular business is taken up, the Secretary of State leading off with 
his budget." (Washington Star, July 1-i, 1879.) 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 305 

most of the innumerable communications he received that de- 
manded more than a mere acknowledgment, he would indicate 
briefly to one of his secretaries the nature of the response to be 
made and leave it to him to give the reply proper expression. 
At half-past three the President would go for a drive, accom- 
panied by some member of the household or some friend, w^hich 
would last until five o'clock. Then he gave a few minutes more 
to his correspondence, took a brief nap and dressed for dinner; 
at which nearly always guests were present. The evening until 
bedtime, at eleven o'clock or later, was occupied with callers 
who came by appointment to discuss important matters of 
public concern. By the time the last caller left the President was 
weary in body and mind from the long hours of almost incessant 
devotion to the never-ending variety of questions that require 
the attention and decision of the Chief Magistrate of a great 
nation. Then, before retiring, as had been his custom at Co- 
lumbus, he took a short walk, often calling on Mr. Evarts, or 
Chief Justice Waite, or some other close friend. 

The President usually slept well. Even after days of assidu- 
ous endeavor and when most worried with pressing cares and 
responsibilities, he was able with the exercise of his disciplined 
will power to throw off the vexations of the day and quickly to 
find repose. He kept his health in almost perfect condition dur- 
ing his entire term by conscientious gymnastic exercise every 
morning on arising from bed, by walking rapidly a few minutes 
after each meal through the lower hall and conservatory, and by 
moderation in his diet. He drank a single cup of coffee at break- 
fast and one cup of tea at luncheon. Nothing else in the nature 
of a stimulant passed his lips. Tobacco in any form he had never 
used. While he had not all his life been a total abstainer from 
alcoholic beverages, he had always been strictly temperate, only 
occasionally enjoying with friends a glass of Rhine wine or some- 
thing of its quality. But shortly after entering the White House 
he became convinced that for Americans, at least, the only 
safety lay in total abstinence, and from that time on to the end 
of his life he consistently put his conviction in practice. His 
splendid vigor, his capacity for work, his resiliency after long 
strain and periods of unremitting effort, were a constant and 
striking argument for the temperance cause. 



306 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

While the President was busy in his office with his evening 
callers, Mrs. Hayes and her house guests were at home in the 
parlors below, ready to welcome any visitors that presented 
themselves.^ The rooms were made attractive with potted 
plants and a profusion of cut flowers from the conservatory, to 
the care and arrangement of which Mrs. Hayes gave personal 
attention. Often there was music and singing when famous 
artists were at the Capital. Usually the callers were numerous, 
made up alike of people in the ojBBcial and social life of Washing- 
ton and of persons from other parts of the country who hap- 
pened to be in the city. The members of the Cabinet and their 
families, Vice-President Wheeler, who became devotedly at- 
tached to the Hayes household, ^ General Sherman, Chief Justice 
Waite, George Bancroft, and many other distinguished per- 
sonages were frequent callers. All, whether well known or ob- 
scure, were sure of a kindly greeting from Mrs. Hayes and were 
instantly made to feel at ease with themselves and their sur- 
roundings.^ Mrs. Hayes possessed a positive genius for making 

^ The editor of the lorva State Register, writing to his paper from Washington 
in December, 1877, said: "Visitors come and go to the Executive Mansion with 
welcome and freedom, and the lady of good heart who is mistress there finds more 
delight in doing a kind deed than in receiving high honor. Every evening she has 
receptions, or rather is ready every evening to see all who may call upon her. 
Already her kindness is widely known, and many wounded hearts go to her for 
comfort and are soothed. Who shall say that such a woman is not of value beyond 
rubies and all riches?" 

2 Mr. Hayes's estimate of Mr. Wheeler is given briefly in his diary at the time 
of Mr. WTieeler's death: "The news of Mr. \Mieeler's near approach to his end 
seems to be confirmed. To use his own phrases, he was 'a rare man'; 'every fibre 
of his nature' was sound and true. He was one of the few Vice-Presidents who 
was on cordial terms — intimately and sincerely friendly — with the President. 
Our family all were heartily fond of him. He came often to the TMiite House, and 
often expressed in strong language the pleasure his visits gave him. In character 
he was sterling gold." (Diary, June 3, 1887.) 

" Mr. WTieeler, ex- Vice-President, died this morning of softening of the brain. 
One of the excellent examples of a New England man of ability and character, 
who by sheer force of perseverance, integrity, and good conduct rose from poverty 
to independence and honorable place. ... I will start for his home in northeastern 
New York at Malone to-morrow evening, via Syracuse and Ogdensbiu-g." 
(Diary, June 4, 1887.) 

' " Mrs. Hayes has a remarkable memory for faces, for names and incidents, 
and there is a certain empressemcnt in her way most gratifying to strangers and 
casual acquaintances — it reassures the timid and puts at ease the embarrassed. 
'Her smile,' now a hackneyed theme, on which all the terms in the Thcsaurxis 
have been brought to bear, is not a set smile of which one would soon tire, — not 




RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 
From Portrait painted for the White House by Daniel Huntington 



LIFE IN THE WT[ITE HOUSE 307 

people about her happy. When she was in a group there were 
no embarrassing silences. Her social tact, her quick intuition, 
her unaffected kindness of heart, and interest in others' pursuits, 
and her brightness and charm of conversation captivated all 
who came within the sphere of her influence.^ In the most easy 
and natural manner she would move about the rooms from one 
group or guest to another so as to make sure that no one should 
feel neglected or be left long stranded in difficult or uncongenial 
company. Whenever it was possible for the President to escape 
from his desk, he would descend the stairs and find relaxation 
by mingling among the callers and joining freely in the conver- 
sation. ^ These quite informal evening gatherings, where all was 
bright and cheerful and of good report, became the distinctive 

the meaningless grin you might suppose, — but a smile that comes and goes, and 
illuminates her face with an expression of pleasure, sympathy, kindness, gracious- 
ness, dignity, or grati6cation, as the appearance or way of the person to whom 
she gives it calls forth." (Washington correspondence Cincinnati Enquirer, Jan- 
uary 13, 1879.) 

1 The Reverend Dr. J. O. Clark of Macon, Georgia, writing to his wife, from 
Baltimore, June 25, 1878, of a visit at the White House, said: "Coming into the 
room with a pleasant smile, she [Mrs. Hayes] introduced herself with an ease and 
grace which made me feel perfectly at home in her company. In a few moments 
we were talking as if we had known each other for years. Her manners are charm- 
ing, characterized by great simplicity and the absence of all affectation. She is 
not beautiful, and yet she is beautiful, for her face mirrors the pure soul within. 
This lady captivates all whom she meets; and this she does without art. In her 
presence the conviction is irresistible that you are conversing with a true woman 
■ — an Israelite, indeed. In whom there is no guile, and in whom the gentlest and 
noblest Christian graces are happily blended in associated beauty. You feel that 
you are with a true wife and mother, as well as with a lady of exalted rank and 
dignity. In social life, as the wife of the Chief Magistrate of the nation, her posi- 
tion is the highest in the land. And right well and nobly does she fill it. But this 
she impresses upon you, not by any stateliness of manner, not by any assumed air 
of superiority so common to many of exalted rank and dignity; but by her affa- 
bility, her gentleness, and the unstudied ease with which she receives all visitors. 
And this is the unanimous testimony of all who have met her, whether friends or 
foes of the Administration of her husband." 

^ The W^ashington correspondent of the Philadelphia Times, which was far 
from friendly to the President, writing to his paper in November, 1877, uses this 
language: "The White House and its inmates are exceedingly popular. There 
is a refreshing absence of pretension and formality. The President and his wife 
have courteous, cordial manners, which spring from kindness of heart. They are 
quick and ready in conversation, so that there are no awkward pauses. They are 
not afraid to converse freely, and do not appear to put any restraint upon their 
utterances, as though they feared misrepresentation. This, too, is a contrast to 
the last regime." 



308 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

social feature of Mrs. Hayes's regime at the White House. There 
had been nothing to compare with her social grace and influence 
and esteem since the time when the famous and accomphshed 
Dolly Madison had won the allegiance of all hearts. Thomas 
Wentworth Higgmson, whose judgment even the most censo- 
rious would hesitate to impeach, believed "that American man- 
ners of the best type are the best in the world, because they 
are the nearest to 'kind nature'"; the last words being an allu- 
sion to Tennyson's declaration in "Walking to the Mail." And 
it was such manners, he declared, that Mr. and Mrs. Hayes ex- 
emplified in the White House — manners whose foundation was 
laid in conscience and religious sentiment "without narrowness 
or bigotry." 

Sunday afternoon the President habitually went for a long 
drive into the country with Secretary Sherman, who throughout 
his Administration was his most intimate counsellor and con- 
fidant. Together on these occasions they discussed all questions 
of administrative policy, canvassed the varying phases of politi- 
cal activity and of party fortunes, and strengthened each other 
for the immediate duties that confronted them. In the trying 
times of the first months of the Administration, when the hos- 
tility or antagonism of Republican leaders to the President's 
action in the South, to his civil service reform principles, and to 
his financial policy, was most active and most outspoken, these 
quiet Sunday afternoon conferences, in the open air, along the 
highways, with the dome of the Capitol rising pure and majestic 
on the far horizon, abiding contrast to the petty contentions of 
the hour, were to the President a source of inestimable refresh- 
ment and encouragement in pursuing the courses he had marked 
out for himself. 

Mr. Hayes gave ample time and care to the preparation of his 
state papers and set speeches. Not infrequently he began early 
to jot down in his diary the ideas that he proposed to elaborate. 
When he came to the task of writing he had thought out his sub- 
ject so clearly in his mind that the words flowed rapidly from 
his pen, on whatever paper lay at hand. He revised carefully, 
his manuscripts showing frequent erasures, interlineations, and 
changes of expression in the interest of clearness and precision; 
often whole paragraphs were recast to give them better form or 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 309 

apter expression. When he was satisfied with his production, it 
was copied by one of the secretaries and put in type by the pubhc 
printer. Then the proof-sHps were subjected by the President to 
the most painstaking scrutiny, resulting in still further improve- 
ments and modifications, not so much for the betterment of 
style as for the purpose of rendering the meaning precise and 
unmistakable. "I have not in such work," Mr. Hayes writes in 
his diary (May 25, 1879), "been careful as to style, except to 
have my papers state principles in a way to satisfy men of ability 
and culture that the statement is sound, and to so phrase and 
put my propositions that the plain people can readily under- 
stand them." As is almost sure to be the case, clear thinking 
with him led to clear writing; and, whenever questions of 
principle were involved, his earnest convictions were reflected 
in the vigor and penetration of his language. 

The President and his household were regular attendants 
Sundays on divine service. Mrs. Hayes was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Communion. The great and fashionable 
Metropolitan Church of that denomination, which President 
and Mrs. Grant had frequented, had hoped to continue to be 
known as the Presidential church. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, how- 
ever, with their instinctive aversion to display, walked unob- 
served, on their first Sunday in Washington, to the nearest 
Methodist church — the comparatively obscure Foundry 
Church — and made that their church home throughout their 
stay in Washington; contributing liberally to its support and to 
all the causes in which it was interested. And in spite of all the 
exactions that her position and constantly increasing popularity 
made upon her time and strength, Mrs. Hayes persistently exer- 
cised the habits of benevolence and charity which had char- 
acterized her life in Ohio, ahke in private and public station. 
Many a needy family in Washington had reasons for gratitude 
to the gracious mistress of the White House who had minis- 
tered to its necessities; and innumerable sick chambers were 
brightened with flowers from the White House conservatory. 
Especially assiduous were Mrs. Hayes's ministrations to the 
distresses of any old soldier or of those dependent on him.^ 

^ Mrs. Hayes was never afraid her dignity would suffer when chance for a kind 
act offered. One day Sir Edward Thornton, the British Minister, with some 



310 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Sunday evening at the White House had a character quite its 
own. Intimate friends were invited to participate in the family 
dinner, and others would join the group later for an hour of so- 
cial intercourse and music in one of the parlors. Hymn-books 
were distributed, and with some one at the piano, one favorite 
hymn after another would be sung. Mrs. Hayes herself pos- 
sessed a sympathetic contralto voice, and sang with a joy and 
enthusiasm which quickly affected all who were present and 
brought them into the spirit of the service. By the time the 
singing was over all were at perfect ease with one another, and 
general conversation flowed on without constraint, but mel- 
lowed and softened by reason of the recent mingling of voices in 
songs of spiritual import. After such an evenmg the guests, 
however important posts in public affairs they might hold, left 
the White House with the feeling that, after all, there were 
things in life to interest the human spirit and to demand its 
allegiance other than engrossing questions of statecraft or 
party control.^ 

English friends, called at the WTiite House. As the visitors entered the Blue 
Room, what was their surprise to see Mrs. Hayes sitting on the floor, needle and 
thread in hand, while before her, half reclining on the central divan, sat an old 
ordnance-sergeant. The callers were about to retire, when Mrs. Hayes looked up 
and laughingly bade them stay. She rose from the floor, shook hands warmly 
with the veteran, and, parrying his thanks, assm-ed him that his uniform was now 
perfect. The incident was characteristic of her instant and self-forgetful kindness. 
One of her sons some time before had discovered at the Soldiers' Home a veteran 
of the battle of Fort Stephenson (at Fremont), in the War of 1812, named William 
Gaines. Subsequently Gaines received a pension for his services in the War of 
1812 and in the Mexican War, and a complete full-dress uniform was ordered 
sent to the White House for him. He was brought in from the Soldiers' Home 
that day to don his uniform and to be photographed. Having put on the uniform, 
Gaines discovered that the sergeant's stripes for the trouser seams had been sent 
loose to be used at the wearer's discretion. He was greatly distressed at the 
thought of being photographed without these stripes. Mrs. Hayes, who had come 
down to greet him in the Blue Room, at once sent for needle and thread, that she 
might herself stitch them on. She was just finishing the task when the British 
Minister and his guests entered, and saw the Mistress of the \Miite House in so 
unusual a posture. When they heard the story of the old veteran, they only 
admired Mrs. Hayes the more. 

1 The editor of the Pittsburg Christian Advocate was present at one of these 
Sunday evenings in the winter of 1878, and wrote of it in his paper. Among the 
guests were "the Vice-President, General Sherman and daughter. Secretary 
Schurz, Attorney-General Devens, Senator Ferry, General Hastings, CongTcss- 
man McKinley, Assistant Surgeon-General Wt)odward and wife, and Mr. Dick- 
inson, private secretary of the Vice-President. Mrs. Woodward takes the piano. 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 311 

Every Thanksgiving Day all the secretaries and clerks of the 
White House with their wives and children were invited to share 
the old-fashioned family dinner; and on Christmas Day they 
were again at the White House, when each and every one of the 
household received a present from Mrs. Hayes. ^ 

Besides the continuous exercise of mformal hospitality and the 
constant entertainment of special guests, invited to spend days 
or weeks in the White House, there were, of course, the formal 
state dinners and the great ceremonious receptions which have 
come to be established functions of the social life of the White 
House. About these it is unnecessary to speak in detail, for 
their characteristics have often been described and they are 
much alike, whoever is the occupant of the Executive Mansion. 
It was the contemporary judgment of persons of long experience 
and observation of Washington social life that never had more 
sumptuous dinners of state or more brilliant and better ordered 
receptions been given in the White House than while Mr. and 
Mrs. Hayes presided over its destinies.^ One feature of these 

and the first hymn sung is 'Jesus, Lover of my Soul,' followed by ' Majestic sweet- 
ness sits enthroned,' 'Jesus, let thy pitying eye,' 'My days are gUding swiftly 
by,' 'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' 'Tell methe old, old story.' The singing of such 
hymns filled up the hour, closing with 

'Blest be the tie that binds 
Our hearts in Christian love.' 

A season of genial conversation, and the company breaks up. No cant, no as- 
sumed solemnity, marred the hour. It was a time of Christian cheerfulness. 
Nothing was more pleasing than to see General Sherman, the hero of so many 
battles, join with evident relish in the exercises of the evening." 

^ " Sometimes she bought the presents herself, in which case she would be at 
work for weeks beforehand. Sometimes, when she was rushed, she commissioned 
Webb Hayes and me to buy them. At those times there would be a card for each 
one, to give the more personal touch. At about noon on Christmas Day every 
one was called into the library. There, in a heap in the middle of the floor, were the 
presents. Beside them waited President and Mrs. Hayes, and little Miss Fanny 
and Scott waited 'first on one foot and then on t'other' for the festivities to 
begin. The President or his wife read out the names and picked out the presents, 
and the two children danced about distributing them." (William H. Crook, u6i 
supra.) 

2 For example, the Washington Star of January 16, 1878, reported: "The first 
public reception the President has held in the evening since his inauguration was 
one of the pleasantest in the annals of the White House. TMiile the parlors were 
well filled, there was no such crush as so often destroys all the pleasure of these 
soirees. ]Mr. Webb Hayes made the introductions to his father and Colonel Casey 
to Mrs. Hayes, who was looking especially pretty in a polonaise of white gaze de 
Ckambery over a trained skirt of white silk trimmed with the same material. The 



312 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

entertainments, and, indeed, of all WTiite House entertainments 
during Mr. Hayes's Administration, was distinctive and unique 
in the history of the Republic, until it was reestablished by 
President Wilson. And that was that no wine or other alco- 
holic beverage was ever served.^ Mr. and Mrs. Hayes had 

waist was high and the front filled in with white tulle. Miss Foote, Miss Piatt, 
and Miss [Allie] Smith [daughter of William Henry Smith], the latter a recent and 
very attractive addition to the White House circle, were in the back part of the 
room, moving from one to another of the guests, exchanging pleasant greetings 
and engaging in merry conversation. They made the reception resemble more an 
entertainment in a private house than a stiff and formal state occasion." 

"Last evening we had a new sort of gathering at the WTiite House; an official 
entertainment of the diplomatic corps. Guests invited and refreshments. . . . 
The only private citizen invited was Mr. Corcoran. Mr. Bancroft spoke warmly 
about it; said it was the finest affair ever had in the White House. Many others 
talked in a similar strain. It was, no doubt, a successful and enjoyable affair. 
Lucy and I received and shook hands with the stream of people about two hours 
as they were coming in, and, after a few minutes' promenading, — I with Mrs. 
McKinley, Lucy with Mr. George Bancroft, the venerable historian, — we again 
took our places in the East Room fronting the main entrance and a little back 
of the central chandelier and again shook hands for an hour with the departing 
guests. We did not enter the dining-rooms until after eleven, when the affair was 
happily over." (Diary, February 26, 1879.) 

"Our party to the diplomatic corps was all that could be desired. One mistake 
was made. We did not include among ' officials ' the reporters — the gentlemen 
of the press. Strictly, they are not officials. But their connection with Congress 
is so intimate and important that they might properly be included with the offi- 
cers of Congress. Nothing sinister was intended. It was not considered. But it 
has [caused] great irritation and accounts of the affair corresponding with the 
feelings of the -WTiters have been sent out." (Diary, February 28, 1879.) 

^ The only exception to this rule was at the diplomatic state dinner, given 
April 19, 1877, in honor of the Russian Grand Dukes, Alexis and Constantin, 
when the long-established precedent was followed. It was soon after this dinner 
that the public came to understand that at no future entertainment, while IMr. 
and Mrs. Hayes presided at the White House, should wine be served. 

Ben: Perley Poore, a famous Washington correspondent of the last generation, 
says in his Reminiscences (vol. ii, chap, xxxi) : "All of the state dinners while she 
[Mrs. Hayes] presided over the hospitalities of the White House were ostensibly 
strictly temperance banquets, although the steward managed to gratify those 
fond of something stronger than lemonade. True, no wine glasses obtruded them- 
selves, no popping of champagne corks was heard, no odor of liquor tainted the 
air fragrant with the perfume of innocent, beautiful flowers. The table groaned 
with delicacies; there were many devices of the confectioner which called forth 
admiration. Many wondered why oranges seemed to be altogether preferred, 
and the waiters were kept busy replenishing salvers upon which the tropical fruit 
lay. Glances telegraphed to one another that the missing link was found, and 
that, concealed within the oranges, was delicious frozen punch, a large ingredient 
of which was strong old Santa Croix rum. Thenceforth (without the knowledge 
of Mrs. Hayes, of course) Roman punch was served about the middle of the state 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 313 

strong convictions on this subject. They could see no sufficient 
reason why they should abandon the custom and habit of a life- 
time when the White House became their home. They had never 
served wine at their table, and they were conscientiously opposed 
to its habitual use and to placing temptation in the way of 
others. They did not wish their family life in the White House 
to be different from what it had always been. Moreover, they 
knew what was going on in high society at the Capital; and they 
believed that the example of abstinence set by the White House 
would not only be right in itself, but would have wide influence 
in discouraging and discountenancing the growing fashion of the 
lavish use of intoxicants in social entertainment.^ 

dinners, care being taken to give the glasses containing the strongest mixture to 
those who were longing for some potent beverage. This phase of the dinner was 
named by those who enjoyed it 'the Life-Saving Station.'" —This story con- 
stantly reappears in the public prints. Mr. Hayes's comment on it in his diary 
(January 10, 1887) should therefore be given: "Also received, and read parts of, 
the two volumes of Ben: Perley Poore's Reminiscences. In the main fair to Lucy 
and myself. The joke of the Roman punch oranges was not on us, but on the 
drinking people. My orders were to flavor them rather strongly with the same 
flavor that is found in Jamaica rum. This took ! There was not a drop of spirits in 
them! This was certainly the case after the facts alluded to reached our ears. It 
was refreshing to hear 'the di-inkers' say with a smack of the lips, 'Would they 
were hot!'" 

1 "It is said General Garfleld will restore wine and liquors to the White House. 
I hope this is a mistake. I am no fanatic on this subject. I do not sympathize 
with the methods of the ultra temperance people. I believe that the cause of tem- 
perance will be most surely promoted by moral, religious, and educational influ- 
ences, and by the influence of example. I would not use the force of law as an 
agency for temperance reform. If laws on the subject are enacted, let them be 
for the security of the community — to protect the public from nuisances and 
crime. Let the temperance reformer keep to the text — influence, argument, 
persuasion, example. 

"When we came here we banished liquors from the house — 
"1. Because it was right, wise, and necessary. 

"2. Because it was due to the large support given me by the sincere friends of 
the temperance reform. 

"3. Because I believed that it would strengthen the Republican party by de- 
taching from the political temperance party many good people who would jom 
the Republican party, and would save to the Republican party many who would 
otherwise leave it to join the temperance party. 

"If General Garfield rejects the practice I have inaugurated, he will offend 
thousands, and drive them into the hands of the temperance demagogues. He will 
lose the confidence of thousands of good citizens and gain no strength in any quar- 
ter. His course will be taken as evidence that he lacks the grit to face fashionable 
ridicule. Nothing hurts a man more than a general belief that he lacks ' the cour- 
age of his convictions.' " (Diary, January 16, 1881.) 



314 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

There was much criticism of Mr. and Mrs. Hayes at the time 
for their course in this matter, a good deal of it brutal and malig- 
nant. They were charged with displaying a narrow, provincial, 
and puritanic spirit, — by some gross-minded critics even with 
parsimony,^ — which was unbecoming to persons in their exalted 

* Apropos of this the following letter is interesting: — 

Spiegel Grove, 
Fremont, March 10, 1891. 

My dear Thomas, — I received from you or some other friend a " \^'ashington 
letter to Philadelphia Press" on the President's expenses. It is carefully written 
and seems to be trustworthy. So far as I am concerned, it is in a good spirit, but 
is totally misinformed as to the result. 

The truth is that having been adopted by my Uncle Birchard when quite young, 
as he had been adopted by my father when left an orphan as I was, I never was 
under the necessity to study economy. He required me at school to keep an 
account of my expenses, and occasionally examined it. But he never, that I 
recall, found fault with me on the score of extravagance. I never received in any 
ofBce more than I expended. Rarely, as much. Possibly in the City Solicitor's 
office of Cincinnati I received as much as I spent, and about as much in the 
Presidency. As Governor and as member of Congress, and in the army I always 
spent more than I received. My habits were not expensive, and my family never 
lacked carefulness, but we had enough to warrant it and we lived freely — 
travelled always a good deal, and did not pinch ourselves in any respect. 

As to the Presidency, this was the situation: We were opposed to the use of 
wines and liquors in our household. We continued at Washington the habits of 
our Ohio home. A bright and persistent correspondent, who failed to get the 
office he wanted, attacked us savagely on all occasions. He started many ill- 
natured stories, showing that we were too economical, and repeatedly charged 
that the total-abstinence rule at the White House was due to a desire to save 
expense. We did nothing that even seemed to warrant this attack. W^e spent in 
hospitality, charities, and generous living the whole amount. My belief is that 
no others ever spent so much in the WTiite House as we did. Many old Congress- 
men (Mr. Stevens, Fernando Wood, and, I think, S. S. Cox) said repeatedly that 
they had known and heard of no one who entertained so much. Mrs. Hayes took 
pains always to have young ladies as guests from all parts of the coimtry. South 
as well as North. Special entertainments were frequent. And the regular routine 
of affairs was made exceptionally brilliant and expensive. Many new dinners and 
entertainments were added to the "of course" affairs. Mrs. Hayes was busy with 
her whole-hearted energy in looking up the needy. WTien we left Washington a 
story was started that I had saved about twenty thousand dollars during my 
term. This was shown by the reduction of my indebtedness to that amount. 
This had an appearance of truth, and was perhaps derived from one of the 
family. But on looking up affairs at home it turned out that a large part of this 
reduction of my debts was from collections on real estate sales made before I 
left home. 

I left Washington with less than one thousand dollars. If you find who the 
correspondent is, and that he is a fair-minded man, as I think he is, you may if 
it seems sensible to do so, take this matter up with him. But do not pubUsh this 
letter which is for your information. The thing is not important now. I am 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 315 

station. Especially, it would be in positive derogation of the 
taste and hospitality of the American people, if distinguished 
guests from foreign lands, where no dinner was ever served with- 
out wine, should be deprived at the President's board of their 
accustomed beverage. But it is for the giver of the feast to de- 
termine the character of the entertainment in accordance with 
his own ideas of propriety ; and a European visitor in an Ameri- 
can house has no more right to ask conformity to European 
usages than an American guest in a European house would have 
to expect that his prejudices should be observed. 

On the other hand, the overwhelming mass of Christian citi- 
zenship of the country, the great body of the plain people, the 
universal voice of church organizations and of the religious 
press, approved and applauded the banishment of wine from 
the White House. They expressed their approbation in countless 
letters, resolutions, memorials, addresses, poems, and editorial 
articles. It was widely thought at the time that Mrs. Hayes was 
entitled to most credit for the edict against wine, though as a 
matter of fact the President was quite as decided as she in favor 
of the action.^ The result was that Mrs. Hayes was exalted by 
the Women's Christian Temperance Union into a sort of patron 
saint; and her name was given to many of its branches. AMier- 
ever she went about the country, in the many trips she made, 
either alone or with the President, temperance women thronged 
to pay her homage, sounding her praises in every form of adula- 
tory address. Finally, as a supreme expression of their apprecia- 
tion and admiration, all the temperance societies of the country 
united in presenting to the nation a beautiful life-size portrait 
of Mrs. Hayes painted by the celebrated Daniel Huntington.^ 

not blamed by any person on the score of economy so far as I know. — Sin- 
cerely, 

RtTTHEEFOED B. HaYES. 

Hon. Thomas Donaldson. 

1 After two years, February 29, 1879, Mr. Hayes wrote in his diary: "The 
exclusion of wine from the list of refreshments has turned out exceedingly well. 
There is a good deal of dissipation here. At the receptions of the British Minister, 
and at that of the Mexican Minister, disgraceful things were done by young men 
made reckless by too much wine. Hence the necessity for our course is obvious 
and is commended in unexpected quarters. Many of the foreign gentlemen 
speak of it with approval. We shall stick to it." 

* The portrait was encased in a heavy oaken frame designed and richly carved 



316 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The gift was accepted by President Garfield a few days after his 
inauguration and remains in the White House as one of its most 
conspicuous ornaments. Mrs. Hayes is represented standing, 
in a gown of ruby-colored velvet, reheved with lace about the 
neck and sleeves, and holding in her right hand three cream- 
white roses. Both pose and likeness are most admirable and give 
every beholder a vivid impression alike of the strength and 
the sweetness of the character portrayed. More than this, an 
address of commendation, bearing the autograph signatures of 
hundreds of men and women, — among them those of the most 
eminent and influential personages of the country, — preserved 
in several great morocco-bound volumes, was, after the return 
to Fremont, presented by ladies of Illinois with appropriate 
ceremony to Mrs. Hayes. ^ 

by the Cincinnati School of Design. In Mr. Arthur's Administration a gilt frame 
was substituted for the oak frame as being more suitable. Thereupon, through 
Mr. Hayes's good oflBces, the original frame was returned to its Cincinnati givers. 
^ Each autograph is on a separate sheet of vellum. The first volume has at the 
beginning a long autograph poem addressed to Mrs. Hayes by Benjamin F. 
Taylor. The first autograph is that of Mrs. James K. Polk. Then follow the sig- 
natures of the leading public officials throughout the Union. The second volume 
is devoted to the army and navy; the fourth and fifth, to the clergj', the bar, the 
press, and artisans and tradesmen; the sixth, to church and temperance workers. 
Many of the signers in all these volumes wrote words of greeting or praise. The 
chief interest, however, centres in the third volume, where are expressed the 
sentiments of the poets, authors, artists, musicians, inventors, and educators. 
Here, in upright hand, is the name of Henry W. Longfellow, with the lines: — 

"Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, 
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought. 
Our hearts in glad surprise 
To higher levels rise." 

On the following leaf John Greenleaf Whittier WTote: — 

"Her presence lends its warmth and health 
To all who come before it; 
If woman lost us Eden, such 
As she alone restore it." 

Turning the page, we have this from Oliver Wendell Holmes: — 

"Look in our eyes, your welcome waits you there, 
North, South, East, West, from all and everywhere." 

And on the reverse of the sheet he wrate: — 

"Lord of the universe, shield us and guide us, 

Trusting Thee always through shadow and sun! 
Thou hast united us, who shall divide us? 
Keep us, oh, keep us, the Many in One." 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps sent her greeting to one "Who has the dignity, cour- 
age, and fidelity of her convictions." 



f 



.?■, 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 317 

The pupils of the Cincinnati School of Design, near the end of 
Mr. Hayes's term, desired to give Mrs. Hayes a handsome oak 
sideboard the elaborate carving of which was their handiwork. 
The President was opposed to the acceptance of any gifts of 
value, whereupon the then Commissioner of Public Buildings 
and Grounds decided on its purchase for the White House. No 
funds were available therefor until after the begiiming of the 
next fiscal year; so that Mr. Arthur was already President be- 
fore the transaction was completed. The sideboard, which was 
always known as the "Hayes Sideboard," was a conspicuous 
ornament of the private dining-room through several adminis- 
trations. On the renovation of the White House some years ago, 

Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney to "The woman who standing 'in the midst,' in the 
Chief Home, stood bravely, for the sake of every home in the land." 

Other sentiments are these: — 

"A good deed outlasts official position." (Charles Dudley Warner.) 

"To perform one's function with fidelity and simplicity is to be both hero and 
saint." (Edward Eggleston.) 

"The fragrance of her goodness will linger forever about the Executive Man- 
sion." (Frederick Douglass.) 

"That woman's hand that puts away the cup 
Is fair as Joan's with the sword lift up." 

(G. W. Cable.) 

"Woman only can make wine-drinking unfashionable, and heal the Nation of 
its ciu-se." (J. G. Holland.) 

"Laurels in life's first summer glow 
Rarely grow; 
But honors thicken on heads of snow." 

(J. T. Trowbridge.) 

"The White House at Washington, whiter and purer because Mrs. Hayes has 
been its mistress." (Thomas W. Higginson.) 

"Hand in hand with angels; 
Blessed so to be! 
Helped are all the helpless; 
Giving light, they see!" 

(Lucy Larcom.) 

"When high moral worth and courage combine with gentleness, matronly 
dignity, graciousness, genial wit, and sweetest charity, the charm is complete." 
(Daniel Huntington, who at the time was painting the White House portrait of 
Mrs. Hayes.) 

Of all the autographs, none pleased Mrs. Hayes more than that of George F. 
Root, the famous composer. Under a sketch of a woman with bowed head, sitting 
near a harp, he had copied a bar of music and its accompanying words, — 

" Yes, we 'U rally round the flag, boys! " — 

thus expressing better than any one else that intense patriotism which was one 
of the deepest emotions of Mrs. Hayes's heart. 



318 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

it was discarded and found its way with other cast-ofiE White 
House furniture to a secondrhand dealer/ when it was pur- 
chased by a private citizen and put to ignominious use. 

Of the unusual social events that took place in the White 
House during this period, the most notable was the celebration 
of the silver wedding of the President and Mrs. Hayes, the first 
celebration of the sort in the annals of the Executive Mansion. 
The actual date of the anniversary was December 30, but as this 
date in 1877 fell on Sunday, the reception was postponed to the 
evening of December 31. It had been the original purpose to 
have present for the occasion only the members of the family 
and such of the guests at the wedding twenty-five years before 
as could come to Washington. The list was enlarged, however, 
to include the members of the Cabinet and their wives. Chief 
Justice and Mrs. Waite, Justice and Mrs. Swayne, and any 
Kenyon College friends, Cincinnati lawyers of the President's 
time of practice in that city, members of the Cincinnati Literary 
Club, and comrades of the Twenty-third Ohio Regiment, that 
might be in the Capital. Even so, the number invited did not 
exceed one hundred. The invitations were written on note paper 
by one of the clerks. Then the President himself added the 
words, "I hope you will come," and addressed them in his own 
hand. 

From Ohio came Mrs. Mitchell, of Columbus, — the Presi- 
dent's niece who, as a little girl, had held Mrs. Hayes's hand 
during the wedding service in 1852, — with her daughter and 
her brother, Rutherford H. Piatt; the Reverend Dr. L. D. Mc- 
Cabe, professor in the University at Delaware, who had offi- 
ciated at the wedding; Dr. and Mrs. John Davis, General and 
Mrs. M. F. Force, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Herron, and Colonel 
L. C. Weir, of Cincinnati, all of whom, except Mrs. Force and 
Colonel Weir, had been present at the wedding. These were all 
entertained at the White House during their stay of some days 
in Washington. On Sunday afternoon in the Blue Parlor, in the 
presence of the family and these special guests, the wedding 

1 Such disposition of old White House furniture, while without warrant of law, 
was long the rule and was hardly creditable to the country. One would suppose 
that it might rather be distributed among the museums of the country; at least 
any pieces that possessed artistic or historic value, or to which any sentimental 
interest attached. 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 319 

ceremony of twenty-five years before was repeated by Dr. 
McCabe and the vows were renewed, Mrs. Hayes wearing the 
same gown of white flowered satin in which she had first phghted 
her troth, ^ and Mrs. Mitchell standing at her side, as she did, a 
little girl, that far-away afternoon in 1852. This impressive 
service was followed with the baptism and christening of the two 
young children of the White House, Fanny and Scott Russell 
Hayes; and likewise of the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Herron, who, with Mr. and Mrs. Hayes standing as sponsors, 
received the name Lucy Hayes Herron. At this service all the 
attendants and servants of the ^Vhite House were asked to be 
present. 

Earlier in the afternoon the guests had gathered with the 
family in Mrs. Hayes's apartment, when General Force read 
aloud the many letters, dispatches, and poems of felicitation 
that had been received. The President had been careful to let 
it be known that presents were not expected or desired. But 
members of the family and the intimate friends and associates 
would not allow the occasion to pass without some token of their 
regard; and so many articles of silver — none of great intrinsic 
value — were given to Mrs. Hayes. The gift that touched her 
most deeply of all, because of the sentiment and affection that 
inspired it, was a burnished silver plaque, embedded in velvet 
and encased in a frame of ebony picked out with white enamel. 
The upper part of the plaque was engraved with the colors of the 
regiment; the lower part with a representation of the double log 
cabin occupied by Colonel and Mrs. Hayes and their two elder 
sons in the winter of 1863, at Camp Reynolds, Kanawha Falls, 
West Virginia. In the mid-space were incised in minute script 
these verses, written by Sergeant-Ma j or William E. Sweet: — 

^ "Mrs. Hayes surprised the friends who were visiting her by appearing in her 
original wedding dress — a dress quaint enough, yet not altogether unbecoming, 
but a great contrast in its absence of train and excessive fulness to the close- 
fitting princesse of to-day. It was of figured white satin, with large plaits joining 
the plain and very full skirt to the waist. The very donning of the robe seemed to 
destroy the intervening years, and Mrs. Hayes was as merry as a girl in what had 
once been a very elegant costume. Her hair was arranged as usual, in its peculiar 
plain style — a style which strikes one at a distance as ungraceful and unbecom- 
mg, but on nearer view the lovely Evangeline eyes and sweet face overpower all 
thought of the hair. A few natural flowers were the only ornaments she wore." 
(Washington correspondence in Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, January 5, 1878.) 



320 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HLVYES 

To THE Mother of Ours 

From the 23d O.V.I. 

To thee, our "mother," on thy silver "troth," 
We bring this token of our love. Thy "boys" 
Give greeting unto thee with brimming hearts. 
Take it, for it is made of beaten coin, 
Drawn from the hoarded treasures of thy speech: 
Kind words and gentle, when a gentle word 
Was worth the surgery of an hundred schools. 
To heal sick thought and make our bruises whole. 
Take it, our "mother," 't is but some small part 
Of thy rare bounty we give back to thee; 
And while love speaks in silver from our hearts. 
We'll bribe old Father Time to spare his gift. 

At six o'clock all the guests and all the members of the family 
sat down to a wedding feast in the family dining-room. There 
were twenty-three at table. The evening, which as usual brought 
many callers, had, like other Sunday evenings, its hour of singing 
and then came to its close in happy reminiscence of the long-past 
Cincinnati days. The silver wedding reception on Monday even- 
ing is described by the newspaper correspondents of the day as 
one of the most interesting and enjoyable entertainments of 
which the White House had ever been the scene. The house was 
as brightly illuminated as was possible in the days when gas was 
the perfection of lighting, and for the first time the conservatory 
was ablaze with gas-jets and open to the guests. All the rooms 
were lavishly but tastefully adorned with plants and flowers 
and trailing vines. The Marine Band was present throughout 
the evening, filling the spacious rooms at intervals with joyous 
music. The guests began to arrive at nine o'clock, when, to the 
strains of Mendelssohn's Wedding March, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes 
descended the stairs, followed by the house guests, two and two, 
and proceeded to the great East Room, where they stationed 
themselves in front of the east windows and there received the 
congratulations and good wishes of their friends. Mr. Hayes 
was in conventional evening dress, with a rose in the lapel of his 
coat. Mrs. Hayes wore a handsome gown of white silk, with 
draperies of white brocade, the heart-shaped neck filled after 
her customary manner with filmy tulle, and the half-sleeves end- 
ing with lace. Her only ornament was a silver comb fastening 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 321 

back her heavy bands of glossy black hair, and some delicate 
white flowers on the left side of her head. 

All the guests knew one another so well that nothing formal 
or ceremonious marked the evening. Every one entered heartily 
into the spirit of the occasion, moving about the rooms from 
group to group to greet acquaintances and share in the vivacious 
conversation. At ten o'clock the wedding march again was 
heard, and at the signal all the guests followed the President and 
Mrs. Hayes to the state dining-room where a wonderful colla- 
tion was served. The bells of the city were ringing in the New 
Year before the last guests, who tarried to blend New Year's 
greetings vnth. their words of farewell, had taken their depar- 
ture. No other social experience in all their official life was quite 
so full of joy and satisfaction to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes as this 
silver wedding celebration. Old friendships had been deepened 
in their tenderness and new friendships had been made closer 
by the opportunities it had afforded for spontaneous expressions 
of personal interest and regard. ^ The brilliant New Year's 
reception the next day, with all the decorations of the rooms 
remaining as they were, when all official Washington thronged 
to the White House to pay respect, and the parlors were bright 
with the splendid costumes of diplomats and the uniforms of 
military and naval officers of high degree, seemed almost a con- 
tinuation of the silver wedding celebration. For mingled with 
the conventional greetings of the season to the President and 
Mrs. Hayes were expressions of personal felicitation and good 
wishes in recognition of the happy anniversary that had just 
been commemorated. 

June 19, 1878, the White House was the scene of a most 
beautiful and interesting wedding service — the eighth ceremony 
of the sort in the historic mansion. The bride was Miss Emily 

1 A few days after the sUver wedding (January 12) Mr. Hayes, recording the 
sudden death of his old friend, R. C. Anderson, of Dayton, who to his great regret 
had been unable to come to Washington, writes, in his diary: "And so one of my 
dearest friends is gone. A friend of thirty years' standing; a man of such warm 
affections, so unselfish, honorable, and true, that his friendship was to be counted 
as one of the greatest blessings. His home in Dayton was my home. ... At the 
time of our silver wedding it was mentioned as remarkable that the friends with 
whom I was most intimate when I married in 1852 were all still my most intimate 
friends — all living, namely, Richard C. Anderson, Manning F. Force, John W. 
Herron, George W. Jones, William K. Rogers, R. H. Stevenson." 



322 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 



i 



Piatt, the youngest daughter of Mr. Hayes's beloved sister 
Fanny. She was an attractive and accomplished young woman, 
who had been Mrs. Hayes's constant companion and most effi- 
cient assistant in all White House activities. The bridegroom 
was General Russell Hastings, since the beginning of the Ci\Tl 
War a trusted friend of Mr. Hayes. He served throughout the 
war in Mr. Hayes's regiment, of which he rose by meritorious 
service to be lieutenant-colonel, and for gallantry in action he 
had received the rank of brevet brigadier-general. During the 
last year of the war, in the Shenandoah Valley, he was General 
Hayes's adjutant-general. At the battle of Opequon he was 
severely wounded and lay for weary weeks in the hospital at 
Winchester, hovering between life and death. No officer in the 
volunteer service had a fairer reputation for dashing courage 
and reckless daring. Since the war he had been in the Ohio 
Legislature and for many years had served as United States 
Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio. At this time he was 
a banker at Rockford, Illinois. In spite of his lameness from his 
honorable wound, he was a man of splendid vigor and striking 
personality. 

The wedding was celebrated in the Blue Parlor, the most 
beautiful of all the White House rooms. This had been trans- 
formed into a realm of faery with profuse floral decoration. In 
front of the three windows stretched high a bar of bright-colored 
blossoms, from each end of which hung ^^Teaths of white flowers 
enclosing medallions bearing the initials of bride and bridegroom. 
From its centre was suspended a huge wedding bell composed, 
as one correspondent of the day takes pains to tell us, of fifteen 
thousand white roses. The twilight still lingered at seven o'clock 
that June day, but the curtains were drawn and the chandeliers 
were ablaze, when to the melodious chords of the Mendelssohn 
Wedding March, softly played by the Marine Band, the wed- 
ding procession entered the room. Mr. Hayes led with Mrs. 
Mitchell, then came Mrs. Hayes with the bridegroom, fol- 
lowed by the bride with her father. The plighted pair stood 
under the bell of roses while Bishop Jagger, of the Southern 
Ohio Episcopal Diocese, in canonical robes, read the impres- 
sive marriage service of the English Churcli. The guests of the 
occasion were only immediate relatives, intimate friends, and 



f 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 323 

persons of the Cabinet circle. It had been the expressed wish 
of Mrs. Hayes that the correspondents should refrain from de- 
scribing the bride's trousseau and the toilets of the other ladies 
present, or from making mention of the wedding gifts. But that 
was asking too much of those who purvey information to meet 
the taste and curiosity of newspaper readers. And so we know 
that the bridal gown was of "rich white brocade satin, made in 
princesse style en train"; that "the plain skirt was finished at 
the bottom with a flounce nearly a quarter of a yard in width, 
laid in flat plaits and finished by an exquisite wreath of orange 
blossoms with waxen buds and shining leaves"; and that "the 
bridal veil of illusion reached to the bottom of the train, with a 
short veil over the face, and a coronet of orange buds and leaves 
falHng gracefully over the bride's shoulders." We know, too, 
that Mrs. Hayes wore a most becoming gown of "heavy cream- 
colored grosgrain, combined with brocaded velvet grenadine of 
the same shade, garnished with magnificent chenille ball fringe 
and lace, braided with pearls; cut princesse en train, with square 
corsage, filled in with tulle, and elbow sleeves." And some way 
we are glad to have these intimate details of this gracious family 
event in the official mansion of the nation's Chief Executive. 

One other social event at the White House during Mr. Hayes's 
term is worthy of special record. This was the entertainment of 
former members of the famous Cincinnati Literary Club who 
were at that time residents of Washington. Mr. Hayes, it will 
be recalled, was active in the club during the years he lived in 
Cincinnati and made among its members many enduring friend- 
ships. It was customary for the club to celebrate each year the 
anniversary of its formation. In harmony with this custom the 
President invited the Washington club members to a dinner and 
reunion at the White House on the evening of Tuesday, October 
29, 1878, the twenty-ninth anniversary of the club's existence. 
Besides the President there were present Judges Warden and 
James, General R. D. Mussey, Henry Reed, W. K. Rogers, 
Professor Cleveland Abbe, General T. C. H. Smith, Wilham 
Guilford, W. W. Warden, A. R. Spofford, Sam. P. Butler, Henry 
C. Borden, John E. Hatch, and Aaron R. Button. At the table 
there were also Mi-s. Hayes, Mrs. Rogers, General and Mrs. 
Hastings, and Webb C. Hayes. After the dinner, served in the 



324 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

family dining-room, which was attended with a constant flow of 
reminiscences and anecdotes relating to the club's history and 
its members, the ladies withdrew, and Mr. Spofford was made 
chairman of the more formal reunion. But the proceedings were 
hardly more than formal in name. The men were together for 
an evening of enjoyment, and the fact that they were gathered 
in the White House could not dampen the old-time spirit of good 
fellowship. For the time being Mr. Hayes was not President, 
but simply a fellow club member who had made them his guests. 
Papers or verses were read by General Mussey, Judge James, 
Mr. Guilford, and Mr. Rogers; and greetings were sent to the 
home club. Altogether it was a most enjoyable evening, abound- 
ing in good talk; and yet, for all its wit and humor and revival 
of pleasant memories, touched with the pathos of the days that 
are no more. 

Each summer, as the heated term came on, Mr. Hayes with- 
drew his family from the White House and established it in the 
cottage on the grounds of the National Soldiers' Home, in the 
outskirts of the city. Strange as it may seem now. President 
Grant had been subjected to much captious criticism by the 
public, and even by Congress, for making his summer abode at 
Long Branch, away from the miasmatic summer climate of the 
Capital. He had been the first President to make his temporary 
abode away from Washington, and the country was inclined — 
quite unreasonably, as every one now believes — to question 
the propriety of his action. Mr. Hayes thought it wiser to follow 
the older precedents and have no home while he was President 
outside of Washington. There is no more beautiful place in or 
about the Capital than the high and rolling grounds of the 
Soldiers' Home, with its noble forests and spacious lawns, and 
its miles of winding carriage-ways, each turn in which surprises 
one with a new vista of woodland loveliness or a glimpse of the 
city, stilled by the distance, and of the Virginia hills dreaming 
beyond the Potomac. The country house, standing on the 
grounds when they were purchased for the Home in the middle 
of the century, had always been set apart for the use of the Presi- 
dent. Mr. Buchanan had occupied it, and President Lincoln 
spent his summers there; but neither Mr, Johnson nor Gen- 
eral Grant had cared to live in it. The house was roomy and 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 325 

comfortable, and with its attractive surroundings and higher 
elevation, Mr. Hayes and his family found it far pleasanter 
than the White House for summer residence; but even there 
they were more or less affected by the depressing summer climate 
of the Potomac Valley. They were glad to get away to cooler 
regions in visits to friends or on the semi-official trips among the 
people of various parts of the country which have already been 
recorded. 

Mrs. Hayes never lost her zest for the stir and movement and 
distinction of life in the White House. It always had perennial 
interest for her. And yet as the time drew near when "all the 
pomp of power" was to be laid aside, both she and Mr. Hayes 
began to look forward eagerly to the quiet and repose of private 
life. There were moments, indeed, earlier in the term when both 
of them were weary of the burdens of their position and felt that 
it would be a relief to escape from its fierce light. During the 
strenuous days of the prolonged special session of Congress in 
1879 we have, on June 6, this entry in the diary: — 

Lucy and I have had a few minutes' talk on this laborious, anxious, 
slavish life. It has many attractions and enjoyments, but she agrees 
so heartily with me as I say, "Well, I am heartily tired of this life of 
bondage, responsibiUty, and toil"; "I wish it was at an end"; "I re- 
joice that it is to last only a little more than a year and a half longer." 

We are both physically very healthy, unusually capable of bearing 
the fatigues incident to the place. We can travel longer night and day 
without losing our spirits than almost any persons we ever meet. Our 
tempers are cheerful. We are social and popular. But it is one of our 
greatest comforts that the pledge not to take a second term relieves us 
from considering it. That was a lucky thing. It is a reform — or rather 
a precedent for a reform, which will be valuable. 

Confronting the last two busy months of his Administration, 
to be filled with many and great official cares, Mr. Hayes wrote : 
"We begin to long for home and freedom more and more as the 
time draws nearer." "I am soon," he adds, with evident joy 
at the prospect, "to become a private citizen — to be entitled 
to the privileges and immunities of that honorable and enviable 
position; to have a right to manage my own private affairs with- 
out intrusion. If not one of the wealthy citizens of our State, 
I trust I shall always be ready to offer to friends that best part 
of hospitality, — a hearty welcome to my home; and to those 



326 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

who need it, that best part of charity, — aid cheerfully given 
according to my means." 

And a few days later (January 16) he recurjs to the subject in 
this language : — 

The Graphic said a few daj^s ago: "Take him for all in all, Hayes will 
step out of office on the 4th of March next with more peace and blessing 
than any President in fifty-six years. Who since Monroe has gone out 
both vnlUnghj and regretted?" 

That the White House will be left "willingly" hy both Mrs. Hayes 
and myself is perfectly true. Indeed, "gladly" might truthfully be 
substituted for "willingly." We have upon the whole enjoyed our four 
years here. But the responsibility, the embarrassments, the heart- 
breaking sufferings which we can't relieve, the ever-present danger of 
scandals and crimes among those we are compelled to trust, and a 
thousand other drawbacks to our satisfaction and enjoyment, by which 
we are constantly surrounded, leave us no place for regret upon re- 
tiring from this conspicuous scene to the freedom, independence, and 
safety of our obscure and happy home in the pleasant grove at Fremont. 

The social life of the White House, however, these last few 
weeks moved on as pleasantly and brilliantly as during the pre- 
ceding seasons. The house was full of agreeable guests, and the 
host of warm personal friends made in the years that had slipped 
so rapidly away were more assiduous in their attentions than 
ever, now that the time of departure was so near.^ Besides the 
customary dinners and receptions, there was a dinner of unusual 
splendor for General and Mrs. Grant in December; a dinner for 
the trustees of the Peabody Education Fund in February; and 
a great banquet for the Garfields on the eve of inauguration day.^ 
And during this last winter, in defiance of ancient precedent, 

1 There was great satisfaction, too, at this time for Mr. Hayes in knowing how 
men's opinions had changed in respect to him. In his diary, January 23, he 
writes: "Coming in, I was denounced as a fraud by all the extreme men of the 
opposing party, and as an ingrate and a traitor by the same class of men in my 
own party. Going out, I have the good will, blessings, and approval of the best 
people of all parties and sections. The thing that seems to me unaccountable is 
that with more than usual distrust of my own powers, I had a strong and com- 
forting faith that I should be able to organize and conduct an Administration 
which would satisfy and win the country. This faith never deserted me. I had it 
before either the election or the nomination. Doubtless it was founded on my ex- 
perience. I have often said that I never fail to gain the confidence and friendship 
of those I wish to win if I have time and an opportunity to do so." 

"^ In January, too, Mrs. Hayes gave a brilliant luncheon for more than fifty 
young ladies, daughters of prominent citizens. 




MRS. LUCY WEBB HAYES 

From Portrait by Daniel Huntington. Presented to the White House by the Women's 

Christian Temperance Union. Accepted by President Garfield, 1881 



:| 



LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE 327 

the President and Mrs. Hayes more than once accepted invita- 
tions for dinner at the houses of their friends.^ 

The last subjects of large significance with which Mr. Hayes 
had to deal were, besides the making of several appointments to 
important positions in the public service,^ the disposition of the 

1 "We have dined out a number of times this winter. We thought we might 
depart from custom om- last winter. Last night we dined wdth Mr. George 
Bancroft, the historian. The company at table was not large, but it was notable. 
Mr. Bancroft, lively, full of conversation and vigor at eighty-two or more, is 
noticeable always. He said, 'In 1821 I met Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte nee Patter- 
son, then a very beautiful and attractive woman, in Rome.' 'Seaton told me a 
conversation he had with Calhoun. Calhoun was a candidate for President when 
he was a comparatively young man. "I," said Seaton, "told him he was too 
young, that after his two terms he would still be young, and he would find it hard 
to be laid on the shelf so young." Calhoun replied, "I would go home and write 
my memoirs." So characteristic!' said Bancroft. He said when Clay was an old 
man and expecting soon to die, he expressed a wish to be reconciled to Calhoun. 
A meeting at Clay's chamber was arranged. Clay met Calhoun with the friendli- 
est courtesy. Calhoun was stiff — he could n't say what ought to be said, or do 
what ought to be done. Clay was all the opposite. 

"After Mr. Bancroft, the other notable persons present were Mr. and Mrs. 
Evarts, Senator and Mrs. Hoar, Sir Edward Thornton, Senator Allison, Colonel 
Bonaparte, the grandson of Prince Jerome, Mrs. Bonaparte, the granddaughter 
of Daniel Webster, Mrs. Bancroft Davis, daughter of Senator ('Honest John') 
Davis, of Massachusetts, and granddaughter of Rufus King, Henry Adams, 
grandson of John Quincy Adams, and his wife, niece of Mr. Hooper, ex-Secretary 
of the Xavy Robeson and wife, Mr. Thayer, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and 
his wife (a Livingston), Mrs. Hayes, and myself. More 'family' than we have 
met. Very agreeable and intelligent people. 

"Mrs. Bonaparte said her grandfather, Daniel Webster, the night before his 
great speech in the debate with Hayne, went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept soundly 
four hoiu-s. He then rose and began his preparation [of] the great reply. The 
whole subject poured at once through his brain. Only one day for that speech! 
Mrs. Bonaparte said her grandmother, on her deathbed at ninety-five or ninety- 
six, said to Colonel Jerome, ' The end of Royalty will soon come — there will be 
no more kings or dynasties; the world is now to be republican.' 

"Mr. Adams said: 'Our system of government has failed utterly in many 
respects. The House is not what it was intended to be, a deliberative body. The 
majority can't control its action. Nothing less than two thirds can control it. 
Our army is, or it ought to be, a mere police. It ought to be called a police. Our 
navy is nothing. In all ages the difficulty has been how to decide who shall be 
subs. It is the same here. No means has yet been discovered of doing it peace- 
fully. We have not got it. Our reliance is on the people being so as to need no 
government. WTien that is the case we are safe." (Diary, February 11, 1881.) 

^ Among these appointments was that of Stanley Matthews to the Supreme 
Court. This was received by a large part of the press with a storm of disapproval 
and censure, because Mr. Matthews had been a corporation attorney. The Sen- 
ate refused for some weeks to confirm the appointment; but finally after Mr. Gar- 
field became President did confirm it by a bare majority. Mr. Matthews proved 



328 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 



unfortunate Ponca Indian difficulty, and the veto of the Re- 
funding Bill, threatening disaster to the national banking sys- 
tem, which have already been discussed in preceding chapters. 
The veto message was sent to Congress only twenty-four hours 
before Mr. Hayes was to surrender the reins of Government to 
his successor. The acclaim of gratitude with which it was wel- 
comed by the conservative public opinion of the country went 
far to swell the chorus of commendation which signalized the 
close of the Administration. Innumerable expressions of ap- 
probation came directly to Mr. Hayes either by word of mouth ^ 
or in letters from all sorts and conditions of men; and a decided 
majority of the reputable newspapers of the land printed dis- 
criminating editorial reviews of the President's merits and 
achievements in which approval and praise were the dominant 
notes. 

on the bench that Mr. Hayes's judgment of his character and fitness was alto- 
gether sound. He was a wise and upright jurist and lived to hear his detractors 
sound his praise. 

^ "My closing days are full of satisfactions. I have shaken hands with five 
hundred to-day. Many clergymen congratulate me. The burden of the talk on 
all sides is a clean, honest, independent, and successful Administration. Mr. 
Stephens, of Georgia, saj's he never saw an Administration go out so well spoken 
of. Senators, Representatives, and citizens say the same." (Diary, March 2, 
1881.) 



m 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

THE RETURN TO SPIEGEL GROVE 

WITH the end of his term as President Mr. Hayes's career 
in pubHc office came to a close. But throughout the re- 
mainder of his Hfe his interest in pubHc affairs was unrelaxed, 
and he was constantly engaged in the promotion of educational 
and philanthropic movements. Immediately after the inaugura- 
tion of Mr. Garfield, Mr. Hayes with his family returned to his 
home in Fremont, and there through the years that followed 
lived in pleasant and dignified retirement. While the amount 
of his property was constantly exaggerated ^ by persistent de- 
tractors and ignorant or malicious paragraphers of the press, 
and while much of it consisted of unproductive real estate, it 
was still ample enough to enable him to live in ease and comfort, 
and to make it possible for him to give liberal aid to persons and 
causes that excited his sympathy or appealed to his judgment. ^ 
He engaged in no business or professional pursuits. But his 
days were full to overflowing with reading and historical stud- 
ies, with correspondence which always continued burdensomely 
extensive, with participation in local community concerns, with 
the care and improvement of his estate, and with the multi- 
farious public interests to which he devoted much time and 
solicitude. Moreover, the gentle offices of hospitality were con- 
stantly exercised. The house was a centre of the social life of the 
community, and it was never long without guests — relatives 
or friends — who not infrequently stayed for days or weeks at 
a time. 

For this life of busy and thoughtful leisure his place of abode 
and his immediate surroundings afforded an admirable setting. 
Fremont is a substantial county town of some ten thousand 
population, with many thriving industries, and surrounded by 

1 This exaggeration was a source of much annoyance to Mr. Hayes as it 
resulted in bringing him innumerable begging letters. 

* Indeed, he was liberal far beyond his means in responding to requests for 
assistance. 



330 RUTHERFORD BIRCIL\RD HAYES 

farm lands of surpassing fertility. It lies on both sides of the 
Sandusky River, which flows m picturesque curves toward the 
north to mingle its waters with those of Lake Erie, distant fif- 
teen miles as the crow flies, though the leisurely river nearly 
quadruples that distance. Here, before the white men came, had 
stood a neutral trading village to which tribesmen resorted from 
far and near to engage in their rude commerce. Here was the 
westernmost point reached by the Colonial forces under Colo- 
nel Bradstreet — doughty Israel Putnam commanding the Con- 
necticut battalion — dispatched by General Gage in 1764 to 
war against the famous Pontiac. Here the gallant young Ken- 
tuckian, Major George Croghan, in August, 1813, with a hand- 
ful of men had successfully defended Fort Stephenson against 
the assault of an overwhelming number of British regulars and 
Tecumseh's red warriors, wiim.ing a victory which stirred the 
people of that day as much as Dewey's feat at Manila thrilled 
those of our generation. And through the town William Henry 
Harrison had marched his troops on his way to embark them on 
Perry's ships for Canada, there to win success and glory at the 
battle of the Thames. The town long bore the name of Lower 
Sandusky, but because this name was so numerously employed 
it was given up in the mid-century and the name of the great 
Pathfinder, then at the height of his popularity, was assumed. 
The town is readily accessible by means of one of the great east 
and west trunk railways and is within easy distance of Toledo 
and Cleveland. It has an air of well-to-do comfort and pros- 
perity, and is noteworthy for the number of attractive homes 
with well-kept lawns and gardens, and everywhere abundant 
shade and fruit trees. The houses and cottages of artisans and 
those in the humbler walks of life are almost invariably trim 
.and neat, their front yards beautified with flowers and kitchen 
gardens in the rear. In no quarter of the town does shiftlessness 
or poverty seem to abide. It is the home of many cultured and 
refined people, largely of New England extraction, who have 
pride in their schools and churches, who know good music and 
read good books, and who are interested in all the better things 
of life. A kindly, gentle, hospitable folk, indeed, whose lines 
are fallen unto them in pleasant places, and who, whatever their 
interests or activities, still have time to be happy. 




> 2 



THE RETURN TO SPIEGEL GROVE 331 

At the western edge of the town, a mile from the business 
centre, one comes to Spiegel Grove. ^ It covers an area of twenty- 
five acres, triangular in shape. On each side runs a public high- 
way, the road on the longest side, Buckland Avenue, bearins 
away to the southwest, and falling so steeply that most of it is 
hidden from view. The surface of the land is for the greater part 
level, but the southwestern angle drops by an abrupt declivity 
to a level some thirty feet below the larger tract; and the waters 
of a spring long ago ploughed out a miniature ravine, where now 
two tiny lakes have been made within retaining walls. The 
grove is of primeval forest trees, among which, however, have 
been planted evergreens, historic trees, like the Charter Oak 
and the Napoleon willow (from Mount Vernon), and some 
species not native to Ohio. There are majestic oaks that have 
weathered the storms of centuries, tall hickories, towering elms, 
lofty maples, black- walnuts, and many other varieties. In the 
spring the pink blossoms of the wild crab scent the air and the 

1 The name was given it by Mr. Birchard. Miss Lucy Elliot Keeler, of 
Fremont, in a pamphlet entitled "Spiegel Grove," says: "Mr. Birchard, on his 
way to and from the village daily, passed his new purchase, noted the deep woods, 
its pools of standing water reflecting like mirrors (the German word for which is 
Spiegel) the great trees and tangled boughs and swaying vines, listened to the 
song of birds, the hooting of owls and the mourning of the doves, crooned over 
the legends of the place, smiled over its traditional ghosts and spooks, recognized 
many a likeness to the scenes of the German fairy tales dear to his childhood; 
named it Spiegel Grove." — Mr. Hayes, in a letter to a friend dated "Spiegel 
Grove, 30 August, 1889," wrote: "Perhaps you will ask, ' And why called Spiegel, 
the German word for mirror? ' My uncle perhaps did not carefully consider when 
he named it. But without philological discussion it runs thus: Spiegel — 
mirror — hence, image; hence ghost or spirit. Evil spirits are bogies. Spiegel is a 
good spirit. Spiegel Grove, therefore, is the home of good spirits, referring either to 
our friends departed who have gone to the better world and who hover around 
us here, or to the fact that it is the home of cheerfulness and happiness. Three 
grown persons who have lived here have gone before. All of them were most 
attractive in character and manners. One child of ours, — aged eighteen 
months, — a little boy of unusual beauty and goodness, died here. May we not, 
therefore, now hope that good spirits are around us?" Mr. Hayes added to his 
record of this letter: "Uncle was a humorist and added another reason for the 
name signifying ' good spirits ' : ' I always ke^ for those who can safely use it the 
best of spirits to warm the inner man.'" — At one time Mr. Hayes had thought 
of giving up this name. Thus in his diary, October 6, 1879, when on a visit to his 
home, he writes: "Our place we shall call Birchard Grove after its former owner. 
Uncle Sardis Birchard. His name, 'Spiegel Grove,' fanciful, eccentric, does not 
stick. We never used it." — But the "fanciful" name was too well established 
and did stick; and Mr. Hayes came to like it. 



332 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

dogwood gleams white among the soft greens of the new foliage. 
Along the steep bank by the hidden highway great masses of 
wild roses grow luxuriant, and in their season of flowering are 
worth a long journey to behold. Many of the great trees have 
been named for illustrious men who have visited the grove, or to 
commemorate some historic event. To the east and south of the 
house are wide stretches of lawn edged with clumps of flowering 
plants or bushes. At each angle of the grove is an ornamental 
gateway built of broken boulders of variegated hues. Two of the 
gateways are adorned with great cannon that once saw service 
in our country's wars. There is an entrance also midway of the 
northern side. Through the grove from each gateway wind 
gravelled carriage-roads. The one from the main entrance, bear- 
ing to the southwest, follows the old French and Indian trail 
which ran from Lake Erie up the Sandusky Valley and on down 
the Scioto to the Ohio. It was the route by which Harrison 
marched to the north, and after his day it was called the "Harri- 
son Trail." In one place in the grove for some distance a rem- 
nant of the actual trail is preserved, the depression in the earth 
caused by the trampling of countless moccasined feet being dis- 
tinctly discerned. Close to this drive, on the very brink of the 
declivity, stands the ancient "Grandfather's Oak," under which 
one cold night in the War of 1812, Mrs. Hayes's father biv- 
ouacked. Near the ground its bole still bears the scar made by 
his camp-fire. A narrow drive, running across the park from 
one main drive to the other, is completely shut in on both sides 
with dense, low-hanging evergreens. This is known as "Lovers' 
Lane," and any moonlight night in summer is sure to be "the 
haunt of happy lovers " from the town. All through the summer 
the grove resounds with the notes of numberless birds, — car- 
dinals, robins, song sparrows, doves, and orioles, — and hardly 
can you glance upwards at a tree without catching sight of a 
squirrel whisking along some branch or bickering with his mate. 
Many points in the grove command a wide and fair prospect 
over field and farm to the south and east. Evergreen Hill rising 
high in the middle distance with its masses of perennial verdure. 
Persons who have travelled in England are constantly reminded 
by Spiegel Grove of some country park in the midland counties. 
The house stands near the centre of the grove. It is of red 



THE RETURN TO SPIEGEL GROVE 333 

brick, with gray stone window sills and caps. As originally built 
in 1860 it was an unpretentious though commodious structure, 
having a verandah on three sides. In the months preceding the 
return of the family from Washington, the house was nearly 
doubled in size and many improvements were made in the in- 
terior arrangement. Some years later the back part of the house 
was enlarged and reconstructed. The house in its completed 
form, while making no pretensions to architectural excellence, 
is impressive by reason of its amplitude, its high ceilings, and 
its atmosphere of hospitable comfort. Along the entire eastern 
front and a part of the southern side extends a wide piazza. The 
length in front is eighty feet, and here, when the weather was 
inclement, it was Mr. Hayes's custom to take his constitutional, 
thirty-three round courses making a mile. And here on pleasant 
summer afternoons and evenings was the family gathering place, 
the great oaks giving grateful shade, and the thick screen of 
Dutchman's-pipe on the southern exposure shutting out the 
rays of the westering sun. The front door opens into a wide hall, 
wainscotted with white walnut, leading back to the stairway, 
at the left, and on to the spacious dining-room. From the foot 
of the stairway one looks up four stories to the square balconied 
cupola, which crowns the centre of the roof, and from whose 
high windows the hallways receive most of their light. The 
dining-room has wainscotting of soft red cherry in panels and 
a polished oaken floor. At the north end a great fireplace oc- 
cupies the space between the windows, with broad mantel and 
cabinet above. The other end is recessed and filled with three 
windows through which the sunlight floods the room. For fur- 
niture there are ancestral mahogany sideboards, and serving- 
tables ^ that graced the White House in Madison's time, all 
worthy of note not only because of their historic interest, but 
also for their beauty of form and workmanship. 

To the right of the hall, as you come in, you pass through 
a wide entrance, which can be closed with sliding doors, into 
the drawing-room. It is nearly forty feet in length and of 

* These tables were, of course, obtained by purchase after they had been 
discarded by the White House. There are other pieces of furniture at Spiegel 
Grove, formerly in the White House, notably a desk which was in the Cabinet 
room from Lincoln's time, which were similarly purchased a few years ago. 



334 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

proportionate width, vnih. windows reaching nearly to the floor. 
Low bookcases fill most of the wall-space, containing the English 
and American classics. The furniture consists of old mahogany 
pieces, and about the room are many objects of historic interest. 
Back of the drawing-room, and connected with it by a wide 
opening, is the long and narrow library, crowded to the ceiling 
with thousands of volumes, devoted mostly to American his- 
tory, exploration, genealogy, and biography. Among them are 
many books of great rarity and value. 

On the other side of the hall is the Red Parlor, so called from 
the color of its furnishing, and back of that, with entrance from 
the hall, the room always occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Hayes. 
Here the furniture is old mahogany; the most striking pieces 
being the four-poster bed and a dressing-table of unusual design. 
The room has been kept always in the same state as when oc- 
cupied by the President. Adjoining is a dressing-room, which 
has a door opening on the outside world. Mr. Hayes used it for 
his private study, and in its quiet and seclusion, with door open 
to the sun in summer, he did most of his writing of letters and 
addresses. 

The many chambers of the second floor have most of them old 
furniture from many lands — much of it placed there since the 
President's time. But some rooms remain the same, notably 
one filled with ancestral furniture of Revolutionary times. On 
the third floor, lighted with dormer windows, is the overflow 
library; case after case filled with books of general literature, 
law treatises, official reports, magazine and newspaper files, and 
numberless pamphlets that recall political controversies and 
public disputes which long ago ceased to trouble men's minds. 
Here, too, in file-cases, dispatch-boxes, and various improvised 
receptacles, are stored the letters and manuscripts accumulated 
during Mr. Hayes's lifetime. The mass of papers is quite in- 
credible even to one who has delved for years among them. The 
letters alone are to be counted by thousands and thousands. 
Mr. Hayes was always reluctant apparently to destroy any 
message that came to him in writing, or any piece of manu- 
script, however insignificant it might seem to be. Scattered about 
the house in every part is an endless variety of curious and in- 
teresting objects, — ancient muskets, relics of the Civil War, 



THE RETURN TO SPIEGEL GROVE 335 

battle-flags, pictures, trophies of the chase, souvenirs and me- 
morials of the life in the White House and of the Presidential 
excursions, Indian implements, and curiosities from many lands. 
One room on the second floor is so full of souvenirs and curios 
that the family dubbed it the "Smithsonian." ^ 

It is no wonder, perhaps, that Mr. and Mrs. Hayes were glad 
to leave the glitter and pomp of the White House for the quiet 
and comfort of Spiegel Grove. They were welcomed home by 
the townspeople with enthusiastic acclaim. In acknowledging 
the words of welcome Mr. Hayes said : — 

This hearty welcome to my home is, I assure you, very gratifying. 
During the last five or six years I have been absent in the public service. 
. . , My family and I have none but the friendliest words and senti- 
ments for the cities of our late official residence, Columbus and Wash- 
ington; but with local attachments, perhaps unusually strong, it is 
quite safe to say that never for one moment have any of us wavered in 
our desire and purpose to return and make our permanent residence 
in the pleasant old place in Spiegel Grove in this good town of Fremont. 
The question is often heard, "What is to become of the man — what 
is he to do — who, having been Chief Magistrate of the Republic retires 
at the end of his official term to private life?" 

It seems to me the reply is near at hand and sufficient: Let him, like 
every other good American citizen, be willing and prompt to bear his 
part in every useful work that will promote the welfare and the hap- 
piness of his family, his town, his State, and his country. With this 

1 I have described the interior of the house in the present tense; but the 
description is to be understood, except where indicated in the text, to apply to 
the period of Mr. Hayes. As a matter of fact, at the time of this pubHcation, the 
description in very many particulars is no longer applicable. In 1909 Colonel 
Webb C. Hayes generously deeded Spiegel Grove to the State for the bene6t 
of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, on condition that it be main- 
tained as a state park, and on further condition that a fireproof memorial build- 
ing be erected on the ground for the permanent preservation of the books, papers, 
and collections of his father. He only reserved the use of the house in perpetuity 
for direct descendants of the President. The society accepted the trust and the 
Legislature of Ohio (Democratic in both branches, and Governor Harmon 
approving) gladly appropriated money for the building. This structure, which is 
of gray Ohio sandstone, dressed smooth, stands to the north of the house directly 
facing the north entrance from Hayes Avenue. It is of dignified classic archi- 
tecture and of ample size. To it have been transferred all the papers, books, 
memorials, portraits, war-time relics, and objects of historical and antiquarian 
interest, which Mr. Hayes had about him in the house or had placed in Birchard 
Library. Thus invaluable historical material is made accessible to students, and 
the beautiful park and home will remain intact for future generations to enjoy. 
— For further details regarding the house and grounds, see the article by Miss 
Lucy Elliot Keeler, printed as an appendix to this volume. 



336 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

disposition he will have work enough to do, and that sort of work that 
yields more individual contentment and gratification than belong to the 
more conspicuous employments of the life from which he has retired.* 

For the first few weeks Mr. Hayes was busy in setting his 
house in order and arranging his books in the new library. At 
the same time he began at once to identify himself anew with 
the Hfe of the community. It was his idea that every citizen 
should do his share of the common duties and take an active 
interest in local public enterprises. So he resumed participation 
in the control of the Birchard Library; and he revived his mem- 
bership in the Odd Fellows Lodge,^ and joined a Grand Army 

^ Mr. Hayes thought the country had no need to trouble itself about the 
future fate of ex-Presidents. The following letter to William O. Stoddard, who 
was writing his biography for The Lives of the Presidents series, gives his views : — 

Fremont, Ohio, February, 1889. 

My dear Sir, — The message of Governor Hill has started again the discus- 
sion as to what is to become of ex-Presidents? Would it not be well, if you have 
not, to give a chapter to that topic? Governor Hill suggests life senatorships for 
the ex-Presidents. This, as I see it, is wholly inadmissible. The Senate is already 
burdened with the great inequality between such States as Delaware, Florida, 
Nevada, on the one side, and New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, on the other. 
Besides, there is a new peril. The Senate is becoming the rich man's place. Now 
add to this life members, and you have a condition so inconsistent with the prin- 
ciples of popular government that the abolition or radical change of the Senate 
would soon come. Just think of a Senate, when the Rebellion was on, with a list 
of life members like this, namely, Buchanan, Fillmore, Pierce, Tyler, and Van 
Buren! Of course, I mean no reflection on these eminent men. But the possible 
extent of the evil is indicated. New Hampshire with three Senators, New York 
with four, Pennsylvania with three, Virginia with three, and the excess, above 
other States, for life. Would it not cause discontent? 

On the other hand, let the President when he leaves his office take a manly 
view of the situation. Let him become a citizen again. It is stated that Mr. 
Cleveland will return to the practice of his profession. I hope he will. It will be a 
noble answer to the question. He is only six or seven years out of his law-office 
and can return to it. I should have done so if I could. But I was twenty years 
out of practice. Leavingforthewar in 1861, and an ex- President in 1881, it would 
have been an uphill business to return to the law. But I would like to see my 
short speech to my neighbors when they welcomed me home in 1881 set out in 
full, and then a short and unobtrusive showing of what has been done to carry 
it out in practice. Indeed, I am quite as content with what I have succeeded in 
doing an an ex-President as with any other part of my life. 

Too much of this — in haste as you see. — Sincerely, 

Rutherford B. Hates. 
Mr. William O. Stoddard, 

Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y. 

2 "Last evening I rejoined Croghan Lodge, I.O.O.F. I belonged to it when 
I left Fremont in ISiQ — almosfc thirty-three years ago. Without an especial 



1 






L 



THE RETURN TO SPIEGEL GROVE 337 

Post, attending the meetings of both regularly and doing his full 
part in their undertakings.^ When the Methodists decided to 
build a new church he bore one fourth of the expense; and when, 
not many years later, this structure was burned, he contributed 
a Uke proportion of the cost of its reconstruction. Nor did he 
limit his interest in the church life of the town to the Methodist 
Communion, but gave encouragement and assistance to the 
other churches, Catholic - as well as Protestant, assured that 
all were doing God's service in the world. In every movement 
for the betterment of the community in its business or social 
welfare, or for the relief of the necessitous, when sudden calamity 
came, he appeared among the foremost with ready contribution 
and wise advice, preferring always, however, to act, not as a 
leader, but as a private in the ranks. So he believed his efforts 
would be more effective and the force of his example would have 
wider influence. 

tendency to ' the work ' of secret societies, I have long been satisfied that they were 
in many ways very useful. Leaving out the beneficial feature, which is certainly 
valuable, the social and educational elements are excellent. All descriptions of 
reputable people are here brought together and instructed in the orderly man- 
agement of public business. All are on their best behavior, a fraternal friend- 
ship is cultivated, virtuous and temperate habits are encouraged, and the best 
of our social instincts are called into play. The festive organizations, convivial 
clubs, and the like are not safe places of resort for all natures. No man can be 
worse for the associations of Odd Fellowship and their kindred organizations. 
Most men will be made better. With this perhaps too moderate estimate of the 
society, I am glad to unite with it again." (Diary, January 1, 1882.) 

* He was also chosen to the board of directors of the First National Bank of 
Fremont and to the board of the Oakwood Cemetery. 

^ "This evening attended on the urgent request of Father Bauer a banquet to 
the State Council of the Catholic Knights of America. . . . My speech, humor- 
ous, offhand, and In recognition of Catholic friends in the war — Rosecrans, 
Scammon, etc. — exceedingly well received." (Diary, September 9, 1890.) 

"Since my speech before the Catholic Knights I have thought of a better one. 
The bones of it are: I am a Protestant, born a Protestant, expect to live a 
Protestant, and shall probably die a Protestant. I can see in the past, and to-day, 
faults in the Catholic Chiu-ch, but I am grateful for (1) its work in behalf of 
temperance; (2) its example in keeping together poor and rich; care for the poor; 
influence with the poor; (3) for its treatment of the blacks; of all the unfortunate 
races. A negro sat vnth us at our banquet table ; (4) for its fidelity in spite of 
party — nineteen twentieths were against Lincoln; but Archbishop Purcell 
strung the American flag, in the crisis of our fate, /rom the top of the Cathedral in 
Cincinnati April 16, 1861! The spire was beautiful before, but the Catholic 
prelate made it radiant with hope and glory for our country ! " (Diary, September 
11. 1890.) 



CHAPTER XL 

PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 

WHATEVER affected the welfare of the men that had 
served in the Union armies, or was intended to preserve 
and ennoble the memory of their service, was of abiding interest 
to Mr. Hayes. So great had been the accomplishment of the 
war in securing the very fabric of our institutions, that he be- 
lieved the debt of gratitude due the men that had risked their 
lives in bringing it about could not be overestimated. The 
coimtry, therefore, he held, should be more than liberal in 
caring for the old soldiers and their widows and orphans.^ No 

^ It was on this principle that he had signed the Arrears of Pensions' Bill while 
he was President, an act for which he was at the time much criticized by Demo- 
crats and strait-laced reformers. In a letter to William Henry Smith, of Decem- 
ber 1-i, 1881, Mr. Hayes wrote: "The thing I would talk of, if I ever defended or 
denied or explained, is the Arrears of Pensions' Act. That act was required by 
good faith. The soldiers had the pledge of the Government and the people. 
Congress, State Legislatures, messages, the press — everj'^body assured the sol- 
dier that if disabled in the line of duty he would be pensioned. The pensions were 
due from the date of disability, if discharged on account of it, and from the date of 
such discharge. The act was passed by practically a unanimous vote. A veto 
would have been in vain. But I signed it not because to veto it would have been 
ineffectual, but because it was right. It was a measure necessary to keep faith 
with the soldier. I had fought repudiation on the bond question. Here was a 
failure to pay a sacred debt to the national defenders. We could not afford — we 
ought not — to haggle with them. Suppose there was danger of fraud. Was 
there no fraud in raising the revenue to pay the bonds? 'VMiiskey and other 
frauds? Defective legislation is largely the cause of the frauds complained of. 
Secretary Schurz recommended the remedy. Again and again it was endorsed by 
me. Let the witnesses in pension cases be subjected to cross-examination by the 
Government and the greater part of the frauds would be prevented. The failure 
of Government to protect itself against frauds is no reason for evading just obliga- 
tions. It is said the amount to be paid is larger than was anticipated. That is no 
reason for repudiating the obligation. The amount is small compared with other 
war expenditures and debts. And the frauds and hardships upon Government 
are less than in many other items of unquestioned obligation. We can't make 
fish of one and flesh of another creditor. Look at the good done. In every coimty 
in the North are humble but comfortable homes built by the soldier out of his 
arrearage pay. They are in sight from the desk at which I write. I wovid do it 
again. But I will keep silent, and don't want to be quoted. If nobody says what 
ought to be said in Congress or the press, I will speak at some soldier meeting, 
and print." 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 339 

deserving old soldier ever appealed to him in vain for personal 
assistance or for aid in obtaining a pension. Thus it was quite 
in the nature of things that he should not approve of President 
Cleveland's attitude toward pensions. There seemed to be in it 
too much of the cheeseparing quality. The country was so rich 
and prosperous, and its wealth and prosperity grew so directly 
out of the success of the Union arms, that it could afford to be 
generous to its defenders even at the risk of benefiting some 
individuals that might be unworthy,^ 
Every year Mr. Hayes with Mrs. Hayes attended the reunion 

^ "As to pensions I would say our Union soldiers fought in the divinest war 
that was ever waged. Our war did more for our country than any other war ever 
achievedfor an^' other country. It did more for the world — more for mankind 
— than any other war in all history. It gave to those who remained at home, 
and to those who came after it in our country, opportunities, prosperity, wealth, 
a future, such as no war ever before conferred on any part of the human race. 

"No soldier who fought in that war on the right side nor his ^idow nor his 
orphans ought ever to be forced to choose between starvation and the poorhouse. 
Lincoln, in his last inaugural address, — just before the war closed, — when the 
last enlistments were going on, pledged the nation ' to care for him who shall have 
borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.' Let that sacred pledge be 
sacredly kept." (Diary, February 25, 1887.) 

At the same time Mr. Hayes was ready to show practical sympathy with the 
disabled soldiers of the Confederacy, as witness the following letter: — 

Fremont, Ohio, 15 March, 1889. 

My dear Sir, — I thank you for the privilege of uniting with the New York 
Citizens' Committee in their patriotic and charitable work in behalf of the dis- 
abled and destitute soldiers of the late Confederacy. 

The time is plainly drawing near (if it has not already come) when justice to 
its defenders will require the National Government to expend much larger sums 
than have heretofore been appropriated for the support of the men who saved it. 
The sacred obligations to the Union soldiers must not — will not — be forgotten 
nor neglected, especially by those who have shared in fullest measure the pros- 
perity which has come from the services and sacrifices of those who stood by the 
Government when it was imperilled. 

But those who fought against the nation cannot and do not look to it for relief. 
Their disabled and destitute comrades are left to the generosity and benefactions 
of their more fortunate fellow citizens who wisely forecast the inspiring future of 
our country. Confederate soldiers and their descendants are to share with us and 
our descendants the destiny of America. \Miatever, therefore, we their fellow 
citizens can do to remove burdens from their shoulders and to brighten their lives 
is surely in the pathway of humanity and patriotism. 

With my contribution to the enterprise I beg you to accept also my best wishes 
for its success. I remain sincerely, 

RUTHERFOHD B. HaYES. 

Mr. Oliver Dowisting, 
Secretary. 



340 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

of his old regiment, when the glorious fighting days in Virginia 
and Maryland were lived over again in reminiscence and anec- 
dote and song. He was long president of the Army of West 
Virginia. He participated also, on invitation, in the reunions 
of many other regiments, and in the larger reunions of corps and 
armies. Invariably on such occasions unusual attentions were 
shown him, and his patriotic speeches, often on the spur of the 
moment, never failed to stir the hearts of his auditors. From 
Grand Army posts near and far came frequent requests to Mr. 
Hayes to speak on Memorial Day, or at monument dedications, 
or on other special occasions. These he never refused, hovs'ever 
inconvenient they might be, unless other engagements made 
acceptance impossible. In his scores of speeches on these occa- 
sions he was accustomed to dwell on the large results of the 
war,^ on the great principles that were at stake and that came 
forth from the fiery ordeal fairer and more potent than before; 
and then to plead for the assuagement of sectional bitterness 
and antagonism, for complete reconciliation and for unity of na- 
tional feeling and aspirations.^ He rejoiced at what he had been 
able while President to do to these noble ends; that it had been 

^ "By the results of our war we are made the guardians of the peace of the 
world. The world's highest interest is in our custody — our sacred keeping. 
We are to have the place of the great pacific power. Germany or Russia is 
the great warlike power. Great Britain is the great naval power. But we are the 
peacemaker, if we intelligently and wisely take advantage of the results of the 
War for the Union." (Diary, June 25, 1887.) 

^ "During theG.A.R. encampment [at Steubenville] the weather was simply 
perfect. The people of the town were patriotic and generous. The only thing to 
disturb was the disposition of one or two men to scold the South — to discuss 
irritating topics in an ill-tempered way. This is in bad taste — is bad policy and 
bad in principle. Silence on that which breeds ill temper is the true course. The 
Southern people are our countrymen. They displayed great endurance and cour- 
age — great military traits of character — during the war. Let us now, as soon 
as possible, bring them into good relations with those who fought them. Let 
us become one people." (Diary, April 30, 1891.) 

" At the G. A.R. there was a little demagoguery in the way of keeping alive the 
bitterness of the war. A motion was made and carried against the purchase of 
Chickamauga battlefield, against Rebel monuments, etc., etc., etc. The truth is, 
the men of the South believed in their theory of the Constitution; there was 
plausibility — perhaps more than plausibility — in the States' rights doctrine 
under the terms, and in the history, of the Constitution. Lee and Jackson are 
not, in the moral character of their deeds, to be classed with Benedict Arnold. 
They fought for their convictions, for their country as they had been educated 
to regard it. Let them be mistaken, and treated accordingly. Their military 




o 

w 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 341 

fruitful in continuing effect; and that gradually, under the heal- 
ing influence of time and the increasing business and social 
intercourse of North and South, old prejudices were fading 
away and ancient animosities were ceasing to vex men's souls. 
For example, in an address at the reunion of the Seventy-second 
Ohio Regiment at Fremont, in September, 1886, Mr. Hayes 
uttered these words : — 

Wars are tested in many ways. On the commonest plane in which 
you can put it this war will stand the test. The French proverb is, 
"Success succeeds." Try it by that. Test this war by its results. It 
is the greatest war in history. Never before was there a war in which 
the object of the war was so fully and so completely acliieved. Con- 
sider exactly what it was you were thinking of — what we thought to 
do _ -vvhat we wished, what we hoped for — what we fought for. From 
the beginning the question was, whether these States had come to- 
gether to stay, or whether each was an independent sovereign to come 
and go at its own sweet will. 

We went to war to settle that question. We fought to save the Union. 
\Mien the war was ended that question was settled forever, and graven 
into the granite upon which the nation rests, that hereafter no State 
of this Union will ever attempt to resist the constitutional authority 
of the United States. 

Again, it was always a question which was the greatest government, 
the State or the Nation. To which was the highest allegiance due, to 
the State or the Nation? The Southerners held that the State was 
sovereign; we believed in the sovereignty of the United States. \Mien 
the war was ended, where was that question? There was no question 
left. It was settled and settled forever that every inch of soil of the 
^ United States belongs forever more to the Stars and Stripes. 

And then there was a third question. They believed that the corner- 
stone of liberty was slavery. We believed that the corner-stone of the 
Repubhc was the Declaration of Independence, which gives equal 
rights to all men, and we fought it out, and when the war was ended, 
was there any doubt about it? Never again in this country, nor in any 

genius and heroism make the glory of the Union triumph." (Diary, May 2, 
1891.) 

"Major McKinley visited me. He is on a stumping tour and came from 
Sandusky last evening and spent the night with us. ... I criticized the bloody 
shirt course of the canvass. It seems to me to be bad 'politics' and of no use. 
This, even supposing it was sound in itself. The people are weary of it. It is a 
stale issue. An increasing number of people are interested in good relations 
with the South. This tends to keep alive animosities. Two ways are open to 
succeed in the South: (1) A division of the white votes; (2) education of the 
ignorant. Bloody shirt utterances prevent division, etc." (Diary, September 11, 
1885.) 



342 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

civilized country, will "the false and fatal phantasy" be found, "that 
man can hold property in man." That was settled and settled forever. 
Now, these are three things that we thought of and fought about. 

And was there ever a war in all history in wluch the results were so 
exactly obtained as in this war for the Union? 

But there is another proposition or point that I always make, when 
talking to sokUers, and that is that, looking into the dim future, we were 
blind. We did not see what now we are beginning to see, better and 
more clearly with every revolving year. It is plain now to all the world 
that we achieved, not merely what we conscientiously fought for, but 
that the results obtained transcend beyond measure the wildest antici- 
pations of the friends of the Union. \Miy, take just one thing. Did 
we think or dream, as we were fighting, that it was to make this nation 
the greatest nation on the globe.'' Did we think that it was to give us a 
prestige everywhere that we never had before, and one that we could 
not have had without that war.'* 

Furthermore there was this one result which separates this war from 
all other wars of history; and that is: That the conquered people gained 
more by our victory than victory in any other war ever gave to the 
victors. But it does not need argument; you all see it as plain as sun- 
light. At the South they are set free. Education comes to them all. 
There was no general education there before. Equal advantages come 
to all. Wealth comes pouring in. We do not, of course, have every- 
thing now within twenty-four hours just as we know it will be in two 
or three generations. There are some people soon hot and soon cold, 
that others look to, who think we move too slowly. The Southern peo- 
ple are doing very well, both black and wliite, considering that they 
had been cursed with slavery so long. I repeat that our lately mis- 
guided brethren of the South are doing very well.^ 

And following is the peroration of his address at Columbus, 
Ohio, Memorial Day, 1892: — 

Another lesson inculcated by the war is for America still more im- 
portant. All wars educate. Of our war it has been said: "Ideas were 
behind the cannon and pointed the musket." Abraham Lincoln was the 
very incarnation of these ideas, and they are at once the secret and the 
sure foundation of the enduring place which he holds in the affections of 
all good men and women. The sentiments which filled his soul and were 
the guide of his life were: Humanity — anxious solicitude for the wel- 
fare of his fellow men; sympathy with the suffering and the oppressed; 
hatred of wrong to the humblest human being, and our common brother- 
hood. The lesson of his wonderful life contains almost the whole future 
of our country. It is short and simple. Our America to-day is draw- 
ing near to the parting of the roads. Dazzled almost to bUndness by 

* This quotation has been somewhat condensed. 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 343 

contemplation of the unrivalled swiftness and splendor of her march 
to prestige, to power, and to riches, our country may be tempted to 
reject, or may neglect the message of Lincoln. 

That message was often repeated by him in words, and always ex- 
hibited in his life from his earliest to his latest days on earth. It can 
easily be given in a single sentence. His whole life, his very being, 
seemed to say to his country: "See to it that every son and daughter of 
our Republic, so far as human laws and conduct avail, shall have an 
equal chance and a fair start in the race of life." Knowledge is power 
and property is power. The Republic means opportunity — the equal 
opportunity to get knowledge which in the long run commands prop- 
erty. The practical meaning of Lincoln's maxim is therefore, let all 
the children of the Republic have an equal opportunity for the best 
education which their natural faculties fit them to receive! Reject or 
neglect this and our government ceases to be republican except in name, 
and that doom which the Almighty has appointed for all shams is not 
far off. On the other hand, let the American people remain steadfastly 
true to the ideas for which they fought in the sacred war, and we shall 
thus do all that in us lies to link the destiny of our country to the stars, 
and to entitle her institutions to share in that immortality which, under 
the allotment of Providence in the affairs of nations, belongs always and 
only to eternal wisdom and eternal justice.^ 

Similar ideas found expression also in his numerous speeches 
at Loyal Legion gatherings. Soon after his return from Wash- 
ington the Loyal Legion of Ohio, with headquarters at Cincin- 
nati, made him its commander. This post he held for several 
years despite the inconvenience it involved of frequent journeys 
to Cincinnati. 2 Then the national body, of which he was senior 

* On another occasion he said: "Our Civil War gave to us and to the world a 
much-needed lesson. In the hardest stress of the war the private soldier and the 
private citizen in the field and in civil affairs were often wiser and firmer than 
many of the generals and statesmen. The masterly leadership of President Lin- 
coln was rooted in his perfect knowledge of the people and in his implicit trust in 
their heroic and enduring patriotism. On this rock stands the United States. 
Our political differences no longer touch the fimdamental principles or even the 
forms of our institutions. Hereafter our party conflicts will be over questions of 
administration. Important questions undoubtedly, but they are not vital; they 
are ephemeral, and may be decided, for the time, either way without involving 
the life of the Republic or the form of our government. The United States has 
entered upon a career which is open to no other great nation. Here the people 
with almost entire unanimity believe that our form of government is for us better 
than any other, and are satisfied with the principles on which it rests." 

* "The installation as commander of the Loyal Legion will take place to- 
morrow evening, Wednesday, 3 June. This is my third election to the place. All 
know how'much I value the service we rendered together during those long, anx- 
ious, critical but golden years from 1861 to 1865. Tested by its results, it is the 



344 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

vice-commander, at its annual meeting in Philadelphia in 1888, 
without a dissenting vote, elected him commander-in-chief to 
succeed General Sheridan.^ In this capacity he served the order 
to the end of his life, presiding at the national meetings and 
giving much time and attention to the promotion of its interests 
and the furtherance of its patriotic puqjoses. An indication of 
the kind of speeches he made on Loyal Legion occasions is 
afforded by the following condensed version of his address at 
Lidianapolis, December 19, 1888: — 

Companions, — The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the 
United States is writing the history and biography of the war for the 

greatest war of all history. America was indeed the cradle of the future. In great 
peril our Republic and our America might have been destroyed and would have 
been destroyed but for the work we did. After that work it no longer was a 
cradle — it was no longer a possibility: it became a probability. With wisdom 
and moderation it became a certainty. And that certainty was and is that 
America is the impregnable fortress of whatever is best in the world in govern- 
ment, in society, and in civilization. Our society, the most permanent of all 
soldier organizations, stands on this matchless service as its origin, its founda- 
tion, and its reason for being." (Diary, June 2, 1885.) 

1 General Hayes had said to members that consulted him that he thought 
either General Sherman or General Schofield should be elected; that he would 
not take the place unless it was given with substantial unanimity, without con- 
test. He was told, "Then you will be elected, for all want you." When General 
Joshua L. Chamberlain rose to make the nomination, he expressed embarrass- 
ment that in saying what he proposed he "must offend the modesty of the hon- 
ored companion who presides over this meeting." Whereupon General Hayes left 
the chair and retired from the room. General Chamberlain said: "I offer the 
nomination in the interests of this society. However fitly we might recognize the 
merits of some one of the distinguished officers of the regular service whom we 
have now, I am sure, in our minds and hearts, we present here a man who has 
been commander-in-chief both of the army and navy. However honorably we 
might be represented abroad by placing at our head a veteran and hero of the war 
whose name is known in all lands, we shall miss nothing of honor in choosing for 
this position one to whom, by reason of his gallant service and of his distin- 
guished ability and character, were committed the highest trusts of his country at 
a critical period of her history. Sir, this is most truly a historical society. Noble 
records that have been made are to be nobly kept. The power of noble deeds is to 
be preserved and passed on to the future. And what better recognition of our 
own place and service, what brighter link in the continuity of our own history, 
what better pledge of our loyalty and faith both to the past and to the future, 
than that in the honored roll at the head of our society, chosen from among those 
who have led our armies in war, we place the name of one who was called to the 
exercise of highest authority in realizing its consummation, and securing its 
consequences: one to whose hands it was given to guide the final steps in the 
restoration of the civil order, the reconstruction of disabled States, and the 
regeneration of the Republic?" 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 345 

Union, and on such a scale that they will soon fill many volumes. Its 
own story can easily be told within the limits of a few pages. 

In the very hour of the rapture and ecstasy of our full and final tri- 
umph in the great conflict, the cruel tidings came that seemed for a time 
to blast it all forever. What was victory without Lincoln.'* Where was 
hope with Lincoln murdered? In the midst of the sadness and almost 
despair that settled down upon all minds and hearts and in that deep 
gloom, — in that darkness that could, indeed, be felt, — a little band of 
patriots of the war, in the loyal city of Philadelphia, recalled the exam- 
ple of the Revolutionary fathers and imitated the action of Washington 
and his officers of the Continental Army, when they were about to bid 
each other farewell at the end of the long, hard contest of the War for 
Independence. 

The Society of the Cincinnati was the unquestioned prototype of the 
Mihtary Order of the Loyal Legion. The place, the time, the model 
chosen, and the sentiment which sought and found expression in its 
organization are all fitting and noble. What will be its future? What 
will be its influence on its members and our countrymen, and especially 
upon the young who are growing up to take our places? It is not, and 
it will not be, a poHtical organization. We understand very well that 
free government is of necessity a government by means of political 
parties. We also understand perfectly that men who have stood by 
their convictions on the perilous edge of battle are not hkely to be 
neutrals in the political conflicts of their day. But our organization 
stands on a sentiment that can easily bear the severest possible strain 
due to sectarian or partisan feelings. The Loyal Legion is essentially 
the organic expression of our comradeship in a sacred war. Said General 
Harrison, "Politics cannot break the bond of comradeship." In this 
the general made no mistake. It does not even dim the brightness of the 
links that unite us. They were welded when we stood together as com- 
rades on holy ground, fighting for eternal right. Where is holy ground? 
If anywhere it is where man freely dies for his fellow man. That sublime 
privilege was the crown of Lincoln's fame. And we of the Loyal Legion 
and our comrades of the Grand Army can reverently thank God that we 
were permitted to stand by Lincoln in the deadly crisis of our nation's 
history. 

I repeat the question. What shall be the teaching of the Loyal Legion? 
Ideas rule the world. It goes without saying that the ideas we fought 
for are the principles of the Loyal Legion. Those ideas without regard 
to the sect or party of our choice we hold to. 

The Union of the fathers was imperilled by secession. Our faith is that 
the American Republic, in the language of the Supreme Court, is "an 
indestructible Union of indestructible States." 

The general Government was threatened by the doctrine that the 
allegiance of the citizen was due only to his State. Our faith is that the 
citizen's allegiance is to the United States, and that the United States 
is in authority and duty, in the fullest possible sense, a nation. 



346 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

The contention of our adversaries was that slavery was national, 
perj)etual, and of Divine origin. Our faith is that no statute and no con- 
stitution can make vaUd "the false and fatal phantasy that man can 
hold property in man." 

By reason of their peculiar institution in the slaveholding States 
education was within the reach of only the few who were rich. But for 
the white man who was poor it was not provided, and for the colored 
man it was not simplj' denied, but by solemn enactments was made a 
crime. The faith of the Loyal Legion is that universal suffrage is essen- 
tial to liberty, and that there can be no fitting exercise and no full 
enjoyment of the right of suffrage without universal education. 

Above all, our faith is in America. We beUeve in the study of Amer- 
ica, of its history, of its geography, and of the lives of its men and of its 
women. We believe in American principles, in American music and 
songs and tunes. We believe in the American home and in the character 
and the virtue of the American women which make American homes 
happy. 

Finally, one of the mistakes of the Rebellion was unduly to exalt 
what they called "Sovereign States." They thought each State should 
have its owni flag for its people to gaze upon and to admire and love. 
The faith of the Loyal Legion is the reverse of all tliis. We believe that 
the whole of the American Republic — every State and every acre in 
every State belongs to one flag, "the old flag " — the Stars and Stripes — 
the flag of Washington and of Lincoln — the flag of the United States. 

Already while Governor, Mr. Hayes had come to see the need 
of more humane and more scientific methods in dealing vnih 
men imprisoned for crime. He had much correspondence with 
the Reverend E. C. Wines, the well-known prison reformer of 
New York, and he sought to inform himself of the prison systems 
in other States and countries. He presided, while Governor, at 
the first National Prison Congress, held at Cincinnati in 1870. 
WTiile he was not deeply impressed with the notions of the 
extreme sentimentalists, he was convinced that, in prison disci- 
pline, far greater emphasis should be placed on efforts to re- 
form the convicts and less on the idea of retribution, believing 
that if this were done a greater proportion, especially of first 
offenders, would be restored to useful citizenship instead of 
coming out of prison hardened in their purpose to war on so- 
ciety. So he had been foremost in introducing better methods 
in the penal system of Ohio. Mr. Hayes never lost interest in 
this subject; rather his interest was intensified alike by reason 
of his experience in the exercise of the pardoning power, — when 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 347 

he steadfastly leaned to the side of mercy in all doubtful cases 
and in dealing with first offenders, — and as a result of his 
increasing knowledge of penology. WTien, therefore, in 1883, 
men seeking to revive the National Prison Association — which 
had been allowed to lapse after the death in 1879 of Dr. Wines, 
to whom it had owed its origin and vitaUty — invited him to 
become its president, he did not hesitate to accept the new 
responsibility and to throw himself heartily into the work. 

This position he held during the rest of his life, performing all 
the duties it involved, no matter how great expenditure of time 
and effort was required, with conscientious exactness and un- 
abated zeal. In this cause he had the active cooperation of many 
of the most eminent reformers of the country. The association 
each year held a Prison Reform Congress in one of the more 
important cities of the country, at which all subjects pertain- 
ing to prison methods and the criminal classes were freely dis- 
cussed by students of penology and by men engaged in the super- 
vision or management of penal institutions. The principal 
object of these meetings was to arouse pubhc interest by the 
presentation of facts and the suggestion of remedies, and so to 
excite public opinion to demand the correction of existing abuses. 
Mr. Hayes presided at these meetings and opened the congress 
each year \sath an address, defining the aims and purposes of 
the association and discussing the underlymg principles of the 
reforms that ought to be brought about. ^ These addresses were 
uniformly marked by sobriety of statement, by clear under- 
■ standing of conditions and possibilities, and by practical good 
sense in suggestions. He deprecated any weakening in the ad- 
ministration of justice. Rather he would have greater - vigor 
imparted to it by more expeditious procedure in court, by the 
elimination of politics from prison management, and by wiser 
methods of executing its judgments — methods which, what- 
ever severity they exacted at times, should always be mindful 
of the golden rule; should always be exercised in a spirit of 

' "He presides over the most prolonged sessions of the congress with the 
utmost ease and patience. No suggestions upon the topics of the congress are 
more valuable than his. His generalizations of what is presented by others are 
invaluable." (Rev. W. J. Batt, chaplain Massachusetts Reformatory, in the 
Advance, December 15, 1892.) 



348 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD ILiYES 



humanity and just compassion. The quality of his annual ad- 
dresses is indicated by the following brief quotations : — 

In dealing with criminals the friends of prison reform, while they 
remember that justice must be tempered with mercy and that convicts 
must never be regarded as beyond the reach of human sympathy, will 
not fail also to remember that the virtues of mercy and sympathy are 
not to be allowed to swallow up every other virtue. The end aimed at 
in legal punishment, so far as concerns the criminal, is not vengeance, 
not mercy, not absolute justice. It is the welfare of society.^ 

We believe that society is so compacted together, that Providence 
hath so ordained and doth so govern things that, whether we would 
have it so or not, we must be and are our brothers' keepers. No man's 
family is safely entrenched against vice and crime and the shame and 
wretchedness to which they lead. Let the outcast and the criminal be 
forgotten or disregarded and our whole society will suffer from the taint 
of human degradation. Like a blood poison it will spread through and 
through the social system until it reaches the heart. Tliis serious and 
mighty truth imposes a duty which no society can afford to neglect. 
Civilized society cannot neglect it and hve. No well-informed Chris- 
tian society ever will neglect it.^ 

The chief aim in the treatment of convicts is to protect society 
against its avowed enemy, the criminal. The advocates of improved 
prisons and prison discipline add to tliis a more specific statement. 
They would reform all convicts whom they can reform by wise systems 
wisely administered. Those who cannot thus be reclaimed should re- 
main under their sentence of conviction where they can support them- 
selves by labor and do no harm to society. Is this a hard doctrine? Is 
it not just and humane — is it not good sense to say as long as you are 
a criminal, so long shall you be a convict.'* . . . Our duty as men and 
Christians is to do all we can to enlarge the percentage of reformed, 
and to reduce to the lowest possible figure the hst of the determined 
criminals.^ 

There can be no question that what Mr. Hayes was able to 
do in behalf of this cause had positive influence in hastening 
the adoption of more rational and more humane methods in 
American penal systems.'* 

* From speech. National Prison Congress at Detroit, October 17, 1885. 

* Closing paragraph of speech, opening National Prison Congress at Atlanta, 
November 6, 1886. 

* From speech, National Prison Congress at Nashville, November 16, 1889. 

* Mr. Hayes further manifested his practical interest in this cause by exerting 
his influence to bring about the erection of a model jail in his home town. 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 349 

Great as was his devotion to the interests of the old soldiers 
and to the prison reform cause, it was, however, educational 
problems that excited his deepest concern and most engaged his 
thought and endeavors.^ He never wavered in his conviction of 
the propriety and wisdom of national aid to common school 
education; and m all the years that the subject was before Con- 
gress, by frequent public expression and by personal letters to 
Congressmen, 2 he exerted his influence in favor of legislation to 
that end. Of all his many addresses on this theme the most 
notable was the one delivered at Woodstock, Connecticut, on 
July 4, 1883. In this he urged that universal suffrage demanded 
universal education and that the burdensome mass of illiteracy 
in the South was too great for that section in its impoverished 
condition to deal with single-handed. The nation should come 
to the rescue. Some of his most striking paragraphs were: — 

We have now had thirteen years of experience with xmiversal suffrage 
under our amended Constitution. This experience confirms the often 
quoted and famihar opinions of the fathers of the Eepublic. They held 

1 "My reflections lead me to the idea that the practical good thing for me to 
try to give the public is general education. With my family affairs, my place, my 
town, and this as an object, I can always be agreeably and usefully employed. 
I am averse to writing for the public. I am out of official life, but it seems to 
me I can accomplish something in this direction." (Diary, April 17, 1883.) 

2 "I am daily wTiting to members of Congress in behalf of the bill in aid of 
education by the general Government. There is a good deal of hope among its 
friends. But — " (Diary, December 30, 1884.) — The following letter shows the 
kind of appeal Mr. Hayes made to Congressmen: — 

Fremont, Ohio, 9 March, 1886. 

My dear Sir, — As one of the trustees of the Slater Education Fund, and also 
of the Peabody Education Fimd, I have given, during the last five years, espe- 
cially, a good deal of attention to the general subject of education in the South. 

The result is that I feel very great solicitude in behalf of the Senate bill now 
before the committee of which you are a member giving national aid to education 
when such aid is needed. A few words will indicate sufficiently what I think. 
Elections without education — universal suffrage without universal education — 
must always and everywhere be a farce. There will be no general education in 
the South for several generations without national aid. The bill before you is the 
only chance. You have an opportunity to serve the Republican party by serving 
the country such as has been rarely presented since the war. Excuse me for urg- 
ing you with some warmth to give the subject your best attention. With great 
respect, sincerely, 

R. B. Hates. 

Hon. Isaac H. Taylor, 
Washington. 



350 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

that where all are citizens and all are voters the necessity is imperative, 
fundamental, and overwhelming that there should be free education 
for all. Ignorant voters are ammunition for demagogues. PubUc and 
private credit, social peace and order, property and life are unsafe in 
any community where the voters who make and execute the laws can- 
not read and write. The only power able to establish and support an 
efficient system of universal education is the Government. In the South, 
by reason of slavery and its pernicious legacies, to provide for the free 
education of all by state authority is simply impossible. The colored 
people were held in bondage, and therefore in ignorance, under the 
Constitution of the nation. They were set free and made citizens and 
voters by the most solemn expression of the nation's will, and now, 
therefore, the duty to fit them by education for citizenship and suffrage 
is devolved upon the whole people. 

The Southern States, with commendable zeal, have begun the work. 
The best minds in those States support it. What is now needed is 
pecuniary aid — that aid which the nation is abundantly able to furnish. 
Ignorance, if widespread, anywhere in our country imperils the wel- 
fare of every other part of the United States and of the whole nation. 
To educate all the citizens of the United States is at once our highest 
duty and our highest interest. Education is the friend of whatever is 
most to be desired in civilized society. It is hostile only to that which 
is bad. There is no safe foundation for free governments without it. 

The real government in this country is that of opinion, and with the 
means and authority for universal education in our hands, it is "op- 
tional with us whether the power to which we have subjected ourselves 
shall be a power of intelligence or of ignorance; a reign of reflection and 
reason or of reckless strength; a reign of darkness or of light." 

To complete reconstruction and regeneration in the South, the only 
force now left to the Government or the people is popular education. 
Let national aid to this good cause be witlilield no longer.^ 

He presented the same ideas in different language on a 
great variety of occasions and before audiences of every sort. 
While undoubtedly he carried with him in this advocacy the 

^ Speaking to the same subject on Memorial Day, 1885, at Ripley, Ohio, Mr. 
Hayes said: "I have said before and I repeat that the colored people are the 
only people resident in our country when slavery existed who are in no sense 
responsible for it. ' They were here by the misfortune of their ancestors, and by 
the crime of ours.' Slavery is responsible for the ignorance of the South. Who is 
responsible for slavery? It was in the Union and in the Constitution when they 
were formed. All who took part in forming or upholding them while slavery con- 
tinued are in some sense responsible for slavery. Let the nation then complete the 
work which was begim bj' the soldiers who are honored to-day. The work of the 
war was to .save the Union by abolishing slavery. It only remains to secure the 
results of the war by giving to the emancipated race that education which will fit 
them for their new duties." 




PRESIDENT AND MRS. HAYES AND WILLIAM HENRY SMITH 
On the Piazza at Spiegel Grove, 18S9 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 351 

sympathies and support of the great majority of men of benevo- 
lent pubHc spirit, and while the Blair Bill more than once barely 
failed of passage, yet the prevailing sentiment of the country, 
as has already been noted, opposing so vast an extension of 
national authority, finally stamped the project with disap- 
proval. 

Mr. Hayes was disappointed at this result, but he found con- 
solation in the greater efforts put forth each year by the South- 
ern States to ease themselves of the burden of ignorance and 
in the constantly accelerated flow of private benevolence from 
the North into the less enlightened parts of the South. How 
exigent were the needs of the South for assistance to give even 
rudimentary school training to its vast horde of illiterate ne- 
groes and poverty-stricken whites, Mr. Hayes vividly realized 
by reason of his activity as a member of the board of trustees 
of the Peabody Education Fund. To this board he was elected 
in his first year in the White House. The venerable R. C. Win- 
throp, of Massachusetts, was then president of the board, and 
the other members were General Grant, George Peabody Rus- 
sell, General H. R. Jackson, Secretary Evarts, Hamilton Fish, 
William Aiken, George W. Riggs, Samuel Wetmore, A. H. H. 
Stuart, General Richard Taylor, Surgeon-General Barnes, 
Chief Justice Waite, Bishop \Miipple, T. Lyman, and the Rev- 
erend Dr. Barnas Sears. In the years that followed, as one 
member or another passed to his reward, other men of similar 
note and eminence were chosen to the board. The fund was 
created by George Peabody,^ the illustrious American finan- 
cier and philanthropist of London, whose immense benefac- 
tions, both in England and in this country, established a new 
standard of beneficence. The income of the fund was to be 
used to aid the cause of education m the South regardless of 
race. It was administered under the direction of the trustees 
by a secretary or agent, who visited the schools that received 
assistance and made himself conversant by direct investigation 
with the educational conditions of the old slaveholding States. 
Mr. Hayes always kept in close touch with the work and never 

^ This was in 1866 on a visit of ]VIr. Peabody to this country. He then gave 
$2,000,000. On his subsequent visit three years later he gave an additional sum 
of $1,400,000. 



352 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

failed to attend a meeting of the board. These annual meetings 
usually took place in New York. After the serious business of 
the board was completed, the work of the year gone by reviewed, 
and plans made for the year to come, the trustees with their 
wives or daughters always dined together and spent the evening 
in social intercourse. These evenings were greatly enjoyed by 
Mr. Hayes. So, altogether, membership in the board, while 
bringing him much care and labor, was not only a source of 
satisfaction to him because of the good results he helped accom- 
plish, but also had recompense in the pleasant personal associ- 
ations that it fostered. 

Similar duties and responsibilities were undertaken by Mr. 
Hayes, and similar relations were created for him by his connec- 
tion with the Slater Fund. This was a fund of one million dol- 
lars placed in the hands of trustees in 1882 by John F. Slater, 
a wealthy cotton manufacturer of Norwich, Connecticut, the 
income of which was to be used to aid in the education of the 
freedmen; especially in the training of teachers.^ Mr. Hayes 
was made president of the board and so continued to the end 
of his career. The other members of the board as originally 
constituted were Chief Justice Waite, Governor Colquitt, of 
Georgia, John A. Stewart, William E. Dodge, Morris K. Jesup, 
Dr. Boyce, President Gilman, and William A. Slater.^ The 
benevolence was administered in much the same way as the 
Peabody Fund, except that its benefit was confined to schools 

^ "The Slater charter has become a law in New York. I will now try to make 
the most of this good charity. Industrial education, as well as religious education, 
must have attention. To make the colored people respected and influential they 
must be successful in accumulating property — in doing the work which our 
civilization prizes most highly. Let them be not merely bookish scholars, but 
good mechanics and good business men. Let them show architects, civil en- 
gineers, and the like." (Diary, May 7, 1882.) 

" The Slater Fund Trustees meet to-morrow. A few ideas seem to be agreed 
upon. Help none but those who help themselves. Educate only at schools which 
provide in some form for industrial education. These two points should be 
insisted upon. Let the normal instruction be that men must earn their own living 
— and that by the labor of their hands as far as may be. This is the gospel of 
salvation for the colored man. Let the labor not be servile, but in manly occupa- 
tions like those of the carpenter, the farmer, and the blacksmith." (Diary, New 
York, October 4, 1882.) 

2 Two years later Phillips Brooks, whom Mr. Slater had desired from the first, 
joined the board. 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 353 

established solely for the negro race. In the later years of Mr. 
Hayes's life the same man, the Reverend Dr. J. L. M. Curry, 
was made the disbursing agent of both funds, and thus com- 
plete cooperation in effort was brought about. In the interest 
of the work of the two boards, Mr. Hayes in the autumn of 1891, 
accompanied by Dr. Curry, made an extended trip through the 
South,! SQ as to be able, by personal inspection of the schools 
receiving aid, to know more intimately the results that were 
being accomplished and to see for himself the needs and condi- 
tions that deserved consideration. In each community that he 
visited the people greeted him with every manifestation of re- 
spect and honor. They wished him to know that they had not 
ceased to be grateful for what he had done and said for the 
South while he was President,^ and that they appreciated the 
interest he had ever since displayed by word and deed in the new 
development and the growing prosperity of their part of our 
common country. In every city occasion was made for him to 
address the people, when he expressed his gratification at the 
signs of progress everywhere apparent, and spoke for the cause 
of education, to forward which was the special object of his 
visit. His most significant utterance, perhaps, was in his brief 
speech November 10, at the Montgomery Exposition. He said: 

In all free governments, and especially in this, the peace and progress 
of the country depend upon the intelligence and religion of the people. 
The people make the Government just what they want it to be. We 
rejoice to see what your State has done for the education and elevation 

1 The towns visited were Columbia (South Carolina), Orangeburg, Augusta, 
Atlanta, Montgomery, New Orleans, Jackson (Mississippi), Memphis, and 
Nashville. 

^ His experience was similar to this at Atlanta in 1886, as witness the follow- 
ing: "My visit to Atlanta, Georgia, was in all respects most gratifying. I pre- 
sided over the meetings of the National Prison Association. No reception could 
have been more cordial and friendly. All descriptions of people publicly and to me 
personally said that the South owed a debt to me greater than to any man since 
Washington. All agreed that I had taken the course first which had restored 
harmony between the sections. Among those thus greeting me were Governors 
Gordon, McDaniel, Bullock, Colquitt; Reverends Tucker, Hathorne, Strickler, 
Jones; Mayors Goodwin and Hilyer; Citizens Sidney, Root, Kiser; members of 
the Legislature without number, etc. Whenever these sentiments were uttered 
in the public meetings, as they were constantly, the response was hearty and 
prompt. Altogether the personal part of the visit was all I could wish." (Diary, 
November 18, 188G.) 



354 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

of all her citizens. Free institutions can only exist where there is uni- 
versal education. 

I believe now, as I believed fifteen years ago, in home rule. I believe 
now, as I believed then, that the flag of the nation should not float over 
conquered provinces, but over free and independent States. [Great 
applause.] I think the Supreme Court of the United States set forth 
the true principles of our Government when it declared this to be an 
indissoluble Union of independent States.^ 

Mr. Hayes never had any regrets for the policy he had pursued 
toward the South. Complete reconciliation was slower in coming 
than he had hoped, but he rejoiced in believing that his action 
had done much to accelerate its progress. 

Mr. Hayes further showed his interest in everything pertain- 
ing to the amelioration of the condition of the negro race by 
presiding over the early conferences at Lake Mohonk, for the 
discussion of all the questions that this problem in our social 
and political life presents. In his address at the opening of the 
First Conference (Jime 4, 1890), Mr. Hayes, in a few sentences, 
clearly outlined the proper scope of the inquiries to be under- 
taken and the influences that were sought to be exercised. His 
words were : — 

Upon the Constitution and the laws of the Nation and the States, 
and upon their administration, the welfare of the negroes, like that of 
their fellow citizens, largely depends. This wide area of duty and of 
effort belongs to the domain of practical statesmanship. It will be ex- 
plored, investigated, discussed, and dealt with by those who make and 
those who execute the laws, state and national, by the public press, 
and by poHtical parties. These agencies, guided by their sense of duty 
and supported by public opinion, we may hope will in the long run be 
adequate to the responsibilities devolved upon them. Our Mohonk 
Conference accepts the less conspicuous but hardly less grave and in- 
fluential place of employing the forces which concern the educational, 
the benevolent, and the religious side of the question. We seek consci- 
entiously to avoid whatever is sectarian, or that smacks of partisansliip 
or sectionalism. Political duties and political action, however vital in 
their appropriate sphere, should, in this conference, it is beUeved, yield 
the floor to impartial investigation and earnest discussion of the best 
methods for uplifting the colored people in their industries, their home 

1 Commenting on the last paragraph the St. Louis Republic (Dem.), Novem- 
ber 13, 1891, said: "Mr. Hayes can well afford to submit to the judgment of 
history, for it will certainly say of him that he did more to restore the Union of 
free and independent States than was ever done by any other Republican Presi- 
dent, or by all the other Republican Presidents together." 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 355 

life, their education, their morality, their religion, and, in short, in all 
that pertains to their personal conduct and character. If we can, with 
harmony, prudence, and good sense, adhere to this course, we may ex- 
pect to do something on this momentous subject toward forming and 
enlightening that pubhc opinion which, in a land of free institutions, 
must be regarded as, under Providence, the final sovereign — as, in 
fact, the Government.^ 

Mr. Hayes was also a member of the board of trustees of 
Western Reserve University, at Cleveland, of the Ohio Wesleyan 
University, at Delaware, and, by appointment of the Governor, 
of the State University, at Columbus. In each case he took his 
duties seriously, attending all meetings of each board and serv- 
ing on important committees. He was never willing to shirk 
responsibility when any trust or obligation had once been ac- 
cepted by him.^ In each university he strove for a broadening 
of the courses of study and urged that greater stress be placed 

^ "The Mohonk Conference is a tentative effort, whose aim is to reach the 
truth on the negro question, and to assist in the formation of sound opinions 
among the people as to their duty on the whole subject." (Diary, May 8, 1890.) 

"Whether what we have said or done shall live or die, our impressions, our 
convictions are stronger than before that the much injured race in whose behalf 
we have met has large possibilities, an important future, a part to play in the his- 
tory of our American society. It is said that this [race] has had no history. That 
is not quite true. But true or not, we have heard enough to be assured that the 
gifts required to take a place in history in large measm-e belong to them. We were 
told of their success in weighty tables of figures by Mr. Harris [United States 
Commissioner of Education]. President White told of the great men he met in 
Santo Domingo, in Hayti, and other West India islands. Let me add a small item 
to that shining list of prophetic facts, pointing the possible future of the race. I 
was a few days ago in Bermuda. The entrance to its principal port is a long, 
intricate, difficult, and dangerous passage. The man [a negro] who has charge of 
the ship, taking it in and out, can be no weakling." (Diary, June 6, 1890.) 

2 "I have made it a rule through life to attend well to the humblest duties 
assigned to me, as official, or committeeman, or otherwise. This has been a neces- 
sity for me, with my feelings and notions of duty. It has also been a powerful 
aid. One gets the reputation of reliability, makes acquaintances favorably, 
gains friends, becomes a necessity or a providence to others, and is therefore 
supported and pushed ahead. Both for self-comfort and self-interest, 1 advise 
the young to this course." (Diary, July 3, 1887.) 

"Just now I am giving my thoughts to the Ohio State University, at Colum- 
bus. It is in some respects not in a satisfactory condition. It will come out in 
due time. If anybody was its founder, in the words of Governor Corw'in, ' a great 
part of it I am which.' The land I worked so hard to get, now in the city of 
Columbus, is already worth twice as much as the land-grant fund, and will be 
in a few years worth millions." (Letter to William Henry Smith, November 27, 
1887.) — Mr. Hayes was also President of the Ohio State Archaeological and 
Historical Society, and was zealous in furthering its work. 



356 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

on the subjects of practical importance in the affairs of life. He 
had become convinced that the older college education spent 
too much time and energy on Latin and Greek; that the average 
student could be better trained for the new conditions of the 
age by giving him a larger knowledge of history and of politics, 
of literature and of modern languages, and, especially, of science 
and of scientific method, than the old constricted curriculum 
made possible; that with the study of principles should go con- 
stant application of them in practical exercise, constant verifi- 
cation of them by laboratory investigation.^ He was among the 
foremost to insist that education ought not to be wholly along 
intellectual lines; that it should embody also some training of the 
hand and eye by the use of tools and machmery. Indeed, during 
the last few years of his life, he made practically no speech on any 
college or school occasion in which he did not plead for the in- 
troduction and extension of manual training courses in our com- 
mon schools; and of mechanical courses in institutions of higher 
learning. 2 The purpose of manual training, he contended, was 
"to give a general dexterity of the hands and eyes in the use of 
the leading elementary tools of the principal mechanical trades." 
It had many advantages : — 

Manual training promotes accuracy, cultivates observation, de- 
velops judgment, and trains the faculties to attention and concentra- 
tion. It leads to habits of industry — to belief in labor, to respect for 
labor, and to the spirit of labor. It is good for health. It builds up 

^ "No book study merely — no study without practice — gives a complete 
and thorough education. The study of rhetoric will not make an orator or a writer. 
Declamation, debate, the habit of composition, must be formed by practice. 
Work must go with study. Geology and the other sciences are to be learned 
well only bj' practical work. Thoroughly to imderstand a theory we must be able 
to put it into practice. 

"I constantly find one advantage in working for educational and benevolent 
enterprises in the fact that having been in the first place I am not suspected 
of wanting any personal promotion or advancement." (Diary, November 27, 
1887.) 

"The delusion of the past in all our schools and colleges has been that there is 
no mental training except in books, while in fact the best intellectual culture is 
to be found in learning how to use skilfully the eyes and hands." (Diary, Decem- 
ber 18, 1887.) 

^ "The study of tools as well as of books should have a place in the public 
schools. Tools, machinery, and the implements of the farm should be made 
familiar to every boy, and suitable industrial education should be provided for 
every girl." (Diary, June 27, 1884.) 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 357 

character. The key to what I am saying is my own observation and 
experience. I do not attempt to prove it by a process of reasoning. I 
venture, with all due diffidence, I trust, to give you my testimony. 
Take it for what it is worth. I will support it by many concurring voices 
that are of the highest authority. Work with the hands — skilled labor 
under intelligent and careful instruction — instruction always progres- 
sive — unlocks concealed faculties of the mind which no book, no study 
of any book, can ever reach so easily, so quickly, and in a way that 
gives their possessor such a real and practical power. Hence it is that 
the scholar is so often amazed when he witnesses the achievements, 
the sagacity, the intellectual strength of self-made men — falsely called 
self-made; in truth they are the men of superior education by reason 
of the better advantages which the necessity of poverty and labor have 
literally forced upon them. 

I begin by uniting heartily with you in endorsing the American col- 
lege and the American public school — the American college and the 
American public school of the past, of the present, and of their well- 
assured future. Their fruit is their vindication. American history thus 
far is in large measure their triumphant result and their inspiring ful- 
filment of every promise ever made in their behalf. 

My contention is that skilled productive labor should be taught to 
all the young during the whole educational period from infancy to 
maturity. This is to the end first — perhaps chiefly — that the habits 
of industry which nature kindly and wisely gives to all the young may 
not be lost — may not be supplanted by laziness or mere pleasure- 
seeking, which are the fertile parents of vice, of crime, and of misery.^ 

That Mr. Hayes was a pioneer in the advocacy of manual 
training is evidenced by the fact that at the time he began to 
urge this need in our educational system, hardly a manual train- 
ing high school existed in the country, and very few common 
schools had been even meagrely equipped for any form of 
manual training. 

These various and diverse interests and activities entailed 
upon Mr. Hayes an enormous correspondence ^ — thousands 
of letters each year — and the preparation of innumerable 

* Address before the Ohio College Association at Columbus, December 27, 
1892. His last public address. 

^ There are frequent references in the diary to the burden of correspondence. 
But only near the end of his life is there a note of complaint; as, for example: 
"All day writing letters, but the heap on my table is still appalling. Why do 
people write to me on their own affairs, and at such unconscionable length.' 
Why not skip all but the nub and put that in the fewest words? The time is 
coming when I must use the waste-basket for the lion's share of my correspond- 
ence." (December 10, 1892.) 



358 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

speeches, addresses, and reports. As he had never habituated 
himself to dictation to an amanuensis he could keep abreast of 
his obligations only by constant application and persistent in- 
dustry. And yet he found time for regular exercise or physical 
effort in the open air; he kept up his investigations of local and 
colonial history and his genealogical studies, and he read widely 
not only on the philanthropic and educational topics in which 
he was so deeply interested, but also in the current literature 
of the day and in the classics of the language. And he always 
had time to entertain his friends who dehghted to spend days or 
weeks under his hospitable roof. 

Nor did the numerous matters already detailed exhaust the 
range of his employment or define the demands on his time and 
energy. He was in frequent requisition for participation in 
civic celebrations, or special public entertainments,^ or great 
ceremonial occasions, or memorial gatherings. ^ At the funeral 

1 For example, he was present at the entertainment of the Toledo Press Club, 
March 15, 1888, and made a long address. In this he said: — 

"Show me a man who reads regularly and carefully his newspaper, and I am 
sure that you have called attention to an intelligent and useful citizen. 

"Where in our system of government does sovereignty reside.'' An intelligent 
political philosopher says: 'Here the opinion of the masses in the broadest sense 
of the term, the way in which they feel and think, or understand their interests, 
or misunderstand them, as the case may be, expressed in the greatest number of 
votes, is the real power of the Government.' Now, prophets of evil say that such 
a government must lack the conservative balance-wheel. That it is like a ship 
all sail and no anchor. But the true philosopher sees that the balance-wheel, the 
conservative force, is intelligent popular discussion. Free debate gives the field 
to the wise. But intelligent discussion that can reach and enlighten all minds is 
only possible in a land of newspapers. By the law of their being they are com- 
pelled to publish the best arguments contributed to their own side of every pub- 
lic contention. By the same law, their self-interest, more and more they are 
compelled also to publish the best presentation of the cause of their adversaries. 
Thus the newspaper press is becoming what all concerned in it should hasten 
to make it — the ideal forum of a republic, where the best that can be said on 
important issues is within the reach of every citizen. With this fully accom- 
plished, we may hail the newspaper press as the life-guard of free institutions in 
America!" 

2 At a banquet of the Loyal Legion at Pittsburg, February 22, 1892, in re- 
sponding to the toast to the memory of Washington, he said : — 

"There is an accepted test by which great statesmen, generals, and rulers at 
last are judged. Men's deeds live after them. Results determine. The question 
is what did they do that benefited their country or mankind? Tried by this 
standard the fame of Washington is secure. With every passing year the work 
he did appears higher and better. More and more its unex-pected and priceless 
value and magnitude prove to be of world-wide and beneficent influence. These 



PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES 359 

of Garfield, his steadfast friend and supporter, he was chief 
among them that mourned; and later he engaged in raising 
the memorial fund and served as president of the committee 
which erected and dedicated the monument in Lake View 
Cemetery, Cleveland.^ He rode wdth Arthur near the head of 
the long procession that mournfully followed the corse of the 
indomitable Grant to its last resting-place beside the mighty 
Hudson.2 In the following year he was among those who paid 

results are his fitting memorial, and must be considered with special satisfaction 
and gratitude by all whose precious privilege it was to bear a part in the great 
conflict which saved and enlarged them. 

"The qualities — the traits of character for which Washington was distin- 
guished — were all solid, lasting, and of transcendent worth. He had a massive 
understanding, an unerring judgment, an iron purpose, unmatched coiu-age 
moral and physical, a sense of honor of the purest tone, a conscience clear and 
controlling, inflexible justice, and an unselfish love of country that was the master 
passion of his soul. His advantages of person and bearing, united to his mental 
and moral strength, made him the typical hero of America's golden age — a fig- 
ure and a character unsurpassed in dignity and majesty in the annals of otu- race. 
Let what fortune come that might to the divine cause of his country, Washing- 
ton so rose above the accidents of time and chance that Destiny was bound to 
place him high on the roll of the world's most admired and revered patriots and 
martyrs, and this without regard to victory or defeat in the sublime aims of his 
illustrious life." 

1 He was likewise president of the Maumee Valley Monument Association 
which later erected the monument on the site of Fort Meigs, near Toledo, the 
scene of important battles in the War of 1812. 

2 "The interest in General Grant's death has been very great. I spoke twice 
the evening of his death, once at the Eugene Rawson Post and once at the Man- 
ville Moore Post, G.A.R. In both cases I urged in reference to a monument or 
memorial structure (1) prompt action while the feeling on the subject Is universal 
and warm; (2) that the memorial be placed in New York, where General Grant 
last resided, and where more soldiers and citizens will see and enjoy it than would 
be the case in any other locality; (3) that it be built by a union effort of all sol- 
diers' societies and all citizens in every part of the country. ... I am to speak 
this evening at a memorial meeting in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Let the 
memorial be worthy of the Republic, worthy of General Grant, and worthy of 
the righteous cause of which he was the most illustrious soldier. He was simple, 
sincere, heroic, generous, magnanimous, of sound judgment, self-poised, and 
with a tenacity of purpose rarely equalled." (Diary, July 26, 1885.) 

"The great day passed off well. Not hot for an August day and with a good 
breeze blowing. In the morning I was shown to the ex-Presidents' room, south- 
east corner Twenty-third [Street] and Fifth Avenue, a good place to see the pass- 
ing procession. Soon ex-President Arthur came in; we met in a friendly way 
without any reserve or embarrassment on either side. . . . 

" During the long waiting for the catafalque to reach Fifth Avenue from City 
Hall, [Senator] Sherman and I called on President Cleveland. Found him plain, 
sensible, natural — in all respects well-appearing. His talk was friendly and 



860 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

the last honors to the memory of Arthur; becoming then for a 
time the only living ex-President. He attended the fmieral of 
his stanch friend General Sherman at New York and was one 
of the party to accompany the body to St. Louis for interment 
and to share in the final rites. And one of his last journeys was 
to Indianapolis to mourn with President Harrison when the 
body of Mrs. Harrison was brought from the White House to 
find repose at CroT;vTi Hill.^ 

assuring. My favorable impressions were all confirmed. He lacks experience — 
is not a great man. But he intends and anxiously wishes to do well. He is firm 
and sensible — good qualities in a President. ... 

" At a late hour, after two or three hours of waiting, the procession passed by 
until our place near the catafalque was reached. We joined. President Arthur 
proved an excellent companion for such a drive — five hours. The procession, per- 
haps fifty thousand, with the lookers-on numbering more than half a milhon, . . . 
was in all respects a success. There was good order and propriety throughout. 
Often a very general clapping of hands as Arthur and I passed, and our names 
constantly heard. When the Ohio men in line were passed, they greeted me with 
as decided demonstrations as the occasion permitted. Only as we approached 
the grave was there a decided feeling of the solemnity of the occasion. The bands, 
as the carriages passed the soldiers in line, played dirges — the soldiers at present 
arms, each band taking up the sorrowful airs one after the other; the 'un- 
counted multitude,' the ships in the Hudson, and the whole scene were un- 
speakably impressive and affecting. . . . We stood on the left side of the cedar 
box in which the remains were secured. The G.A.R. and the M.E. ritual were 
used; and rapidly home to our hotel. President Arthur spoke some kind words, 
a hearty good-bye, and we parted." (Diary, August 9, 1885.) 

1 These are only a few of the obsequies of distinguished citizens or personal 
friends that he journeyed far to attend. 



$ 






CHAPTER XLI 

INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 

ON leaving the White House Mr. Hayes ceased to take any 
active part in politics. There was newspaper talk at times 
that he was to be a candidate for Governor or for Congress, but 
it never had any basis in fact; ^ and in 1888 there were party 
leaders who \\ashed to see him renominated for the Presidency, 
but such a possibility did not enter his thought. He felt that 
he had done his full share in official life ; had had his full meed of 
public distinction and honors. He was content henceforth to be 
an observer of the political movements of the passing years, 
with their shifting centres of interest as new questions came into 
prominence; always, however, an intensely interested observer, 
and coming to be clearly conscious of the social problems 
created by changing conditions of industry and the prodigious 
concentration of wealth, which were beginning to press for solu- 
tion. He rejoiced at the passage of the Civil Service Reform 
Law and at every victory won in the contest to overthrow the 

1 Private Fremont, Ohio, 28 March, 1883. 

My bear Sir, — Your note of the 24th instant is before me. I have not the 
least objection to stating my intention as to a return to public life, and am quite 
willing it should be generally known. But I do not wish to publish nor to au- 
thorize the publication of anything on the subject. When I left office two years 
ago it was my intention not to return to pubhc life. I have seen no reason to 
change this purpose and would under no circumstances accept the nomination 
referred to in the marked article you have sent to me. This I have said to all 
wlio have consulted me, and I think it is well understood in the State. 

My chief interest in pending public questions is on the subject of education 
in the South — particularly for the colored people. WTiatever I can do on this 
subject to promote favorable action can best be done out of politics and out of 
public life. 

I am gratified by the general tone of your articles on my Administration and 
wish to assure you of my appreciation of them. 

With best wishes, sincerely, 

R. B. Hates. 

Mr. Alfred T. Waite, 
Boston. 



362 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

spoils system.^ He regretted every departure from sound prin- 
ciples in this contest on the part of the executive authority. ^ 
To the horror and dismay at the assassination of Garfield which 
he shared with all good citizens was added for him a special 
pang because of long friendship and intimate political associa- 
tion. The day after Garfield was shot Mr. Hayes wrote in his 
diary (July 3, 1881): — 

The dreadful tragedy at Washington has occupied our thought since 
yesterday morning. The news this morning is encouraging. . . . The 
death of the President at this time would be a national calamity whose 
consequences we cannot now confidently conjecture. Arthur for Presi- 
dent ! Conkling the power behind the throne, superior to the tlirone! 
The Eepublican party divided, and defeated, — an Administration 
without the moral support of any of the best elements of the country, 
struggling to maintain itself and to perpetuate itself, with aU of the 

1 "Conkling and Piatt, Senators from New York, have both resigned. They 
expect, no doubt, to be reelected as Republicans opposed to Garfield's Adminis- 
tration. It is a wretched business. They make a strong point in claiming that to 
remove Merritt is a violation of the President's principles as laid down in his 
inaugural message, and of all sound principles on the subject. The capital mis- 
take is to attempt to build up an Administration or a party by the use of the 
offices as patronage. The offices should be filled for the good of the service — 
country first and party afterwards." (Diary, May 18, 1881.) 

2 "If the boss system is to go down, as now seems probable, I can say I struck 
the first and most difficult blows. It is based on congressional patronage and 
senatorial prerogative or courtesy. This was fully entrenched at Washington 
when I was inaugurated in 1877. The first step in a reform of the civil service 
was to break it down. As long as the lawmaking power held the power of ap- 
pointment, that is, 'the patronage,' there could be no legislation in behalf of 
reform. Any reform was at the expense of the power of the Senators and the Rep- 
resentatives. The first and principal step was the appointment of members of the 
Cabinet. This belonged, according to the prevailing .system, to the leaders of the 
party in the Senate. A Cabinet of independent men was organized. The Cabinet, 
it was claimed by the champions of the boss system, should be formed, not un- 
friendly to the system. The announcement of the names of Mr. Evarts and Mr. 
Schurz, both independent men, — both opposed by the bosses, — opened the 
war. Appointments were soon made in all directions, not dictated by the leaders. 
From that moment the Stalwart leaders and the newspapers who followed them, 
and the rank and file, have assailed my conduct, character, and motives with 
the utmost bitterness. But let the heathen rage! The good work has made great 
advances. The principal steps have been: (1) The appointment of the Cabinet 
in 1877, and the general course of the Hayes appointments without heeding the 
dictation of Senators and Representatives. (2) The defeat of Conkling in the cus- 
tom-house conflict, which made a business institution of the New York Custom- 
House. (.3) The defeat of Conkling and Piatt, and their dismissal from public 
life in 1881. (4) The defeat of the bosses at Chicago in 1880." (Diary, May 17, 
188-i.) 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 363 

worst features of Tyler and Johnson, and without some of the redeem- 
ing features of those unfortunate Administrations. 

But the people are at last the Government. If they are wise, and 
firm, and virtuous, all will yet be well. If Arthur comes in he should 
have a fair trial. He should be encouraged to do well by a warm and 
sympathetic support as far as he is right. His letter of acceptance was 
creditable. But our hopes and prayers are for Garfield. 

A few days later (July 8), when hope of Garfield's recovery 
was strong, Mr. Hayes wrote to John Hay: — 

Garfield will now have a hold on the hearts of the American people 
like that of Washington and Lincoln. He can do any righteous and 
necessary work with an assured confidence of the firm support of the 
people. The extreme and savage partisanship which "Stalwarts" 
have extolled as the cardinal virtue of a public man, can now be abated. 
A true and genuine reform of the civil service under Garfield is possi- 
ble. I trust he will see his great opportunity. If he does what he can 
do, this great calamity will lead to the crowning glory of his life. 

And three days later he wrote to General Corbin, who was 
at the President's bedside : — 

The President must see many things to console and sustain him in 
his suffering. He is now loved and revered by the people, by men and 
women in all sections of the country, with an afi"ection and reverence 
felt only for Washington and Lincoln. The tragical event has softened 
partisan and sectional animosities until we are as a people more har- 
monious than ever before since the Revolution. 

He has a power for good and wise measures and conduct such as no 
other President ever had. Mrs. Garfield, Mother Garfield, and his chil- 
dren are all embraced in the tender and supreme affection of the 
American people. Is not this some compensation for the agony, dis- 
tress, and suspense of these last ten long and anxious days? 

The following excerpts from the diary show how much Mr. 
Hayes's thoughts were with the patient sufferer at Elberon and 
on the crisis in the country's history : — 

August 27, 1881. — The President is losmg ground. The doctors report 
that he is weaker this morning than yesterday. General Drum says 
"there is hardly any hope." Eight weeks ago this morning he was shot. 
How he has sufiFered, and how the whole country has suffered during 
these long and anxious weeks! 

Our mocking-bird — a fine singer — died last night. We had him 
at Columbus in 1876, took him to Washington where he sang in the 
White House during our four years there, and returned with us in March 
and sang his best in rivalry with the uncaged songsters of Spiegel Grove. 
His death is unimportant, of course, but one feels a foolish presentiment 



364 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

that the death of the bird presages that of President Garfield. It is a 
time of universal anxiety and gloom. 

August 28. — It is impossible to keep my thoughts from the President. 
He is very low. No doubt he is a great sufferer. We are anxiously 
waiting. 

Conkling has been in conference with Arthur. The less Arthur has 
to do with Conkling, the better for his Administration if he is called to 
form one. He should have fair treatment. He will come in, if at all, 
under embarrassing and difficult circumstances. We must give him a 
fair trial — a fair hearing. 

August 30. — Dr. Hamilton's " We are afloat and off the breakers" 
is likely to turn out a trutliful announcement of the blessed tidings that 
the President has passed the crisis. My only hope last week was a blind 
confidence in my hopeful presentiment that he would "pull through." 

September 10. — All daj^ thinking of Garfield — of the battle of Of)e- 
quon (Winchester) seventeen years ago, and how I got over the slough 
alive! Now, almost 11 p.m., the telegraph operator telephones to me, 
"We have a report from Cleveland that Garfield died at 10.30 Wash- 
ington time." I replied, "I can't believe it." I do doubt it, — but I 
fear, I dread it. "Assassination does not change history." The march 
of events will go on; but it is a personal grief. 

September S8. — Absent ten days attending the obsequies of President 
Garfield at Washington and Cleveland. Nothing could exceed the uni- 
versality and depth of feeling shown by all sorts of people. It is a most 
unnatural crime. Mrs. Garfield is calm and quiet. General Banks says 
what frightens the world is, that it is an attempt to administer govern- 
ment by assassination. The uprising is a protest against assassination.^ 

1 In a letter, published widely in the press at this time, Mr. Hayes found 
"perhaps the most important lesson" of the assassination to be the folly, the 
wickedness, and the danger of extreme and bitter partisanship which was ag- 
gravated by the spoils system of appointments and removals of public officers. 
"With the principle established by law and usage," he said, "that appointments 
to office are not patronage, but to be made according to merit, the class to which 
the wretched murderer belongs will lose its occupation and the temptation ' to 
administer the government by assassination' will be taken away." 

Later (February 21, 1883), Mr. Hayes recorded in the diary this estimate of 
Garfield's qualities: "I have just read President Hinsdale's account of Gar- 
field as a student and teacher. Here was his strength. In both capacities he was 
a model. He had large faculties — memory, analysis, fluency, the debating 
faculty; he was the best popular debater of his time. He was not executive in 
his talents — not original, not firm, not a moral force. He leaned on others — 
could not face a frowning world; his habits suffered from Washington life. His 
course at various times when trouble came betrayed weakness. The Credit 
Mobilier afifair, the De Golyer business, his letter of acceptance, and many 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 365 

Mr. Hayes's comment on President Arthur's first message 
to Congress is evidence of his purpose to give "a warm and 
sympathetic support as far as he was right" to the man who 
had come so unexpectedly to the Chief Magistracy and whose 
poHtical antecedents made all conservative people at the 
time apprehensive of the course he would pursue. Mr. Hayes 
wrote : — • 

I have read the President's message. It will be called "a business 
message." That is, it is a message made up at the Departments, with 
very little of the President in it. The important questions of the time 
are, the reform of the civil service, the Mormon or Utah question, and 
education at the South. He leans to the right side on all of these ques- 
tions. Perhaps we should except the civil service question. On this 
subject he evidently has no faith in the reform, but in deference to 
public sentiment he yields so far as to recommend an appropriation of 
twenty -five thousand dollars to carry it out, and expresses a readiness 
to do so. 

On the Mormon question he strikes in the back. He deals with it as 
if polygamy were the beginning and end of the affair. Polygamy is one 
of the evils attendant upon a system which is utterly inconsistent with 
our republican institutions. Utah is now governed by an irresponsible 
priesthood. It is a hierarchy. The Mormon Church is the government. 
It controls Utah and is likely if unchecked to govern other Territories 
which will soon become States. The remedy — the only remedy — is 
to destroy the political power of the Mormon Church. No union of 
Church and State is one of the foundation-stones of our system. Utah 
is governed by the Church — and such a church ! Take from it political 
power, and it falls and polygamy with it, within five years. How to do 
this? The measure should be radical. Halfway measures have been 
tried for twenty-five years. They have failed. Let the Territorial 
Government of Utah be reorganized. Let all power — I mean, of course, 
all the power that it is deemed wise to entrust to a merely Territorial 
Government — be vested in the registered voters of the Territories. 
Let these alone hold office, vote, and sit on juries. Allow no man to be 
registered who does not prove affirmatively to the satisfaction of United 
States courts, or other United States officials, that he neither practises 
the crime of polygamy, nor belongs to nor supports any church or other 
organization which upholds it. 

On Southern education by the aid of the general Government, the 
President is in sentiment favorable and sound; but he evidently doubts 
the constitutional power of the general Government to do what is re- 
quired. There is no ground for hesitation for this reason. The general 

times his vacillation when leading the House, place him in another list from 
Lincoln, Clay, Sumner, all the other heroes of our civil history." 



366 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

Government has made voters of the late slaves. It is its duty to fit 
them — to enable them to vote. Let education be provided for them, 
through the States if they can and will faithfully discharge the duty, 
and independent of them if they refuse or fail. 

On the large list of important subjects with which government deals, 
the message is sound and explicit. Notably so on foreign affairs, the 
Panama canal, the finances, the Indians, and the Southern situation. 
On the latter subject the silence of the message is more significant than 
anytliing the President could have said. The question is settled. The 
policy of the last Administration is acquiesced in even by the most 
"stalwart of the Stalwarts." ^ 

Mr. Hayes watched with great interest the course of politics 
in 1884. This is made evident by the following extracts from 
the diary : — 

April 19, 188^. — The elections of delegates to the Cliicago Republi- 
can Convention show Blaine to be the favorite candidate. Possibly not 
enough so to nominate him. He is clearly in advance largely of any 
other leader, but may not get more delegates than all others combined. 
He fails in two points as a candidate. He lacks the confidence of 
thoughtful, high-minded, and patriotic people. They doubt his per- 
sonal integrity and they think he is a demagogue. Besides, his record 
as a partisan places him in opposition to large elements of the party. 
The Stalwart element — the Grant men of 1880 — do not like him and 
the independent men oppose him. He is, therefore, not the most avail- 
able man, and not the best man named for the office. Either Edmunds, 
Lincoln, or Sherman would be a better President, and a better candidate. 

1 Diary, December 10, 1881. — Compare the following excerpt from a letter 
to William Henry Smith, of December 14, 1881 : — 

"In politics, it is observable, I think, that the President moves with great 
caution. This is the feature that strikes one in his message. \Mien he leans to 
the right side, as on Mormonism, education at the South, etc., etc., he is timidly 
careful to make no decided or distinct committals. He is almost Van Burenish 
in noncommittalism. And when he leans to the wrong side, as on the civil service 
question, he is even more careful to avoid decided expressions. Perhaps in the 
present prosperous condition of the country this caution is politically wise. We 
want to be let alone. King Log is not a bad king sometimes. 

"I look upon these three as the real questions at this time: The civil service, 
education at the South, and the Mormon hierarchy. On all of them it seems to 
me the time has come for decided, comprehensive, and radical measures. The 
civil service is likely to have attention enough. Southern education should be 
aided largely, liberally, efficiently, and promptly. 

"The Mormon Church should be deprived of its political power. It is idle to 
waste time on one of its minor incidents — polygamy. That will fall the instant 
that the priesthood lose their political power. No man should vote, hold office, 
or sit on juries who upholds the union of Church and State which nourishes the 
vices and despotisms of Utah." 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 367 

He does not belong to the class of leaders of whom Hamilton, Jeffer- 
son, Clay, Calhoun, Seward, Lincoln, and Webster are types. He is of 
the Butler and Douglas type — more like Douglas in character and 
position than any other of the great leaders of the past. Clay would 
rather be right than be President. Blaine would gladly be wrong to 
be President. I still hope Edmunds may be the nominee, or Lincoln, 
or Sherman. 

June 8. — The event of the week is the nomination of Blaine at Chi- 
cago. Mr. Blaine is not an admirable person. He is a scheming dema- 
gogue, selfish and reckless. But he is a man of ability and will, if elected, 
be a better President than he has been politician. He will, I think, try 
to have the support of the best people, and to make a creditable record. 
I will, therefore, support him in preference to the Democratic candi- 
date. He was fairly nominated. The Republican masses were for him. 
There is no suspicion of machine influence as the means of his nomina- 
tion. 

July 12. — The Democratic nominations at Chicago are Cleveland 
and Hendricks. Cleveland will be satisfactory to the independent Re- 
publicans. He will draw also from the Germans. However, they are 
to be classed as independent Republicans. The result depends on the 
Irish, and Tammany bolters from the nominations. If they generally 
support the ticket, it is likely to be elected. Cleveland will, I suspect, 
be weakest at the beginning of the canvass, and gain as it proceeds. 
This, without having seen any indication of the reception the result has 
in the public mind. 

November 11. — There has been little genuine enthusiasm for Cleve- 
land in this region. Indeed, I may say, none at all. The dark blot on 
his private life does not imply his entire unfitness for his public life. 
Many a man is blamable in th« same way who is upright and patriotic. 
But the facts, taken altogether, have been a wet blanket to his sup- 
porters. The nomination of Blaine was unwise. Either of the Shermans, 
Hawley, or Gresham, or Harrison, would have probably been elected.^ 

' Mr. Hayes had gone to Cincinnati on election day. The next day he wrote 
Mrs. Hayes : — 

"It now seems probable that Blaine is defeated. With all the disappointment 
one can see some compensations. It turns out, not as we hoped, but as we feared 
at the time of the nomination. The record of our candidate and factional griefs 
in New York lost that State. Look at Oneida County — the county of Conk- 
ling, where Gail Hamilton's letter (exposed in the Evening Post a short time ago) 
did such mischief. Indeed, her letters in the Tribune hurt more than the number 
of votes we lack in New York. I dread the turning back of the hands of the clock 
in the Southern business and in the reform of the civil service. 

"I am glad Ohio has done so well. But, after all, the march of events will 
go on. Our destiny does not depend on a single election, nor on any number of 
elections. You will see other sources of consolation." 



368 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

November 13. — I wrote as follows to my old college chum, Guy M. 
Bryan, of Texas: — 

"I have no prejxidices against Cleveland. The scandals of the cam- 
paign were shocking. In naming a candidate there should be greater 
care. But you and I know — all men of experience and observation 
know — that the kernel of truth under it all does not disqualify him 
for public duties. It is within the knowledge of us all that integrity, 
firmness, wisdom, and the executive faculty, with the truest patriotism, 
are found in men who are not without that sin. Certainly I am in a 
frame of mind to judge him charitably and to give his Administration 
a fair trial. He is pledged to the right side of the most important ad- 
ministrative policy now before the country, namely, the civil service 
reform. He will have a decided majority on this question in the im- 
portant branch of Congress with him and can easily go forward in the 
right direction. 

"The Republican party is not condemned. It has its old strength. 
Both parties were divided by their nominations. The Republican divi- 
sions by a mere scratch in the pivotal State lost the prize. It gains in 
both houses of Congress; it carries the Senate and would tie the House 
if the apportionment in this and other States was fair. The constitu- 
tional amendments, if obeyed, would have given us four to six States 
in the South, and carried the Presidency. 

"But it is of no use to argue; the stream of time flows on; the march 
of events will not be greatly changed. The people are the Government. 
Their character does not change with the results of elections. Years 
and generations are required to change the,people. I hope you are for 
aid to education in the States by the nation. It seems to be our best 
chance to bring up the neglected elements of our population. This is a 
longer talk than usual on politics. Like you, I am a looker-on except 
as to education. On that I am persistent, in and out of season, before 
all sorts of audiences. 

"Your trouble is mine — acres, taxes, meagre income; but lands 
will sell sometime. I do not borrow trouble because just now real 
estate is dull of sale." 

New York, December 10. — Called on Schurz at the elegant residence 
of Dr. Jacobi, 110 W. 34th Street. A long, good conversation on politics. 
He read me an elaborate letter he has written, on request, to the Presi- 
dent-elect. It asserts civil service reform to be the test measure of the 
new Administration; that to carry it out Cleveland must have in his 
leading Cabinet places men who will be sincerely honest in its behalf. 
I told him there was the practical difficulty; — there are not such men 
of good standing in the party. To this Schurz assented. Then fledge 
them to its loyal support. ? "i Here is the rub. 

March k, 1885. — Inauguration day. I am pleased with Cleveland 
much better than a majority of his party seem to be. His letter on the 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 369 

eighty-five-cent silver dollar is sensible and well put. It is against the 
grounds taken by a majority of his party. It is a sound and bold act. 
He appears to be faithful to his committals on the subject of a reform 
of the civil service. I am hopeful that he will prove a good Chief 
Magistrate. 

March 23, 1885. — Heard of the President's appointments to Eng- 
land, France, etc., etc. I like Phelps, Pendleton, etc., etc. The President 
is doing extremely well, and deserves the support so far of the people 
of all parties. I no doubt like him better than the majority of those who 
elected him. He is sound on the currency, the tariff, and the reform of 
the civil service. 

Mr. Hayes consistently maintained toward Mr. Cleveland 
the attitude indicated by his quoted words, though he did not 
approve of all his actions, especially in regard to pensions, and 
did not relax in the least m his devotion to the Republican party 
and in his desire to see it restored to power. Any suggestion of 
himself as a possible candidate in 1888 he deprecated. The 
course of his thought in the campaign of that year and the 
period preliminary to it is sufficiently indicated by the foUowmg 
entries in the diary : — 

June 8, 1888. — Governor R. B. Bullock having sent me a newspaper 
m which he speaks favorably of me, of my Administration, of Mrs. 
Hayes, and of my availability as a candidate for President in 1888, I 
wrote hastily as follows : — 

Confidential. Fremont, Ohio, 11 July, 1887. 

My dear Governor, — I thank you for the copy of the [Atlanta] 
Constitution, and am greatly gratified that you can speak in a way so 
complimentary of my public conduct. 

It is not necessary, I suppose, to assure you of my settled purpose 
not again, under any temptation, to take part in public life. 

My preference for our next candidate is Mr. Sherman, and under no 
circumstances would I consider it. The action of both parties in 1880, 
and the result of the election of that year, afforded ample recognition 
of my title and of the acceptability of my Administration. The Demo- 
cratic party, if they would insist upon the fraud issue, were bound to 
renominate Tilden. Their failure to do it was a confession of judgment 
on that question. Besides, they did nominate Hancock, who was openly 
and decidedly against the fraud issue, and personally and officially 
friendly to me. On the other hand, the Republican party took bold 
ground on the fraud issue. Senator Hoar presided over our convention. 
He was one of the Electoral Commission. 

The convention nominated for President the public man who, of all 
others, was most closely identified with the decision in my favor, and 



S70 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

against Tilden. He was a "visiting statesman" to Louisiana and re- 
ported to me, and the President, and the country that Louisiana in 
equity and law belonged to the Republican column. As one of the 
Electoral Commission he insisted with vigor and determination on 
every step that led to the final result, and voted with the eight (8) who 
decided the contest in my favor. Had he voted otherwise the issue 
would have been different. 

The Democrats made the point against Garfield. Tilden himself in 
person urged it in public speech and in letters. The people in New 
York, Connecticut, and Indiana reversed their vote of 1876 and de- 
cided in our favor. This is sufiicient endorsement. 

I have never had any misgivings about 1876 since the facts were 
fully known. We were equitably entitled to more States than were 
counted for us and to a decided majority of the popular vote. But this 
is ancient history. Your kind words are very grateful to me. I can say 
positively that I am content. I tried to do well — to benefit the whole 
country by restoring the old-time good feeUng between South and 
North. I think something was accomplished. 

Sincerely, your obliged friend, 

R. B. Hayes.i 

Governor Bullock. 

The nominiation of Cleveland and Thurman at St. Louis is an- 
nounced. Thurman's nomination hurts the Democrats in the doubtful 
State of Indiana. Is, therefore, perhaps not "good politics." But it is 
pleasant to see that his independent and honorable course m the trial 
of the ballot-box frauds at Columbus has not driven Judge Thurman 
from his party. 

June 22, 1888. — I am interested in the success of Sherman at Chi- 
cago. A noble President he would make. It is probable he would prove 
also available as a candidate because he is fittest. The others named are 
good men ; Harrison, Depew, Allison, especially so. The three ballots place 
Sherman ahead, 24.9. No other over about 130. But tliis proves little. 

1 "We had a good visit last week from my old friend and stanchest and most 
efficient political supporter. Hon. William Henry Smith, the chief manager of the 
Associated Press. ... He is working up the almost desperate struggle against 
Blaine's second nomination. He prefers Sherman and is very hopeful of victory 
for Sherman. But faihng that will take Sheridan, Harrison, Gresham, Hawley, 
or anybody to beat Blaine. It still looks to a calm outsider (to wit, your paternal) 
as if the Plumed Knight can get the nomination if he wishes it, and as if his 
friends will find it not difficult to persuade him that a second race is necessary 
for his vindication. No doubt Mr. Cleveland's free trade message has brightened 
Republican prospects. For more than twenty years existing legislation has 
enticed capital and labor into manufactures. This is especially true of these 
last few years. To strike them down now at a blow looks like cruelty- and bad 
faith. It will hardly be done." (From letter of Mr. Hayes to Ws daughter, 
December 18, 1887.) 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 371 

June 24. — The Republican convention adjourned until Monday. 
Depew withdrew in a handsome speech. On the last ballot yesterday 
Sherman was still slightly ahead — 224 to Harrison's 223 or 213. New 
York went to Harrison for the most part. General Harrison would 
probably be a good candidate — possibly the best. — Possibly a very 
excellent candidate. His ancestry would tell; he is a soldier; he is in a 
doubtful State; his civil record is good; he is a firm, sound man; his 
personal character is clear and liigh. 

The danger is Blaine. After his letters to nominate him would 
be a mistake. The acceptance now would seem like a trick. The 
charge of a lack of sincerity and integrity would stick worse than 
ever. 

June 25. — Read quite fully the proceedings at Chicago. WTiile I 
think it very unwise to nominate Blaine again, those who wish it at 
Chicago have certainly thus far acted with good sense and entire fair- 
ness, so far as I can see. They seem to give all opponents a fair hearing, 
and to aim to nominate their favorite only when it is shown that no 
other can get a majority. If to this they add the condition that all 
other candidates or their friends consent to his nomination, I do not 
see but he is relieved from all committals to the contrary, and may be 
supported heartily by all Republicans. 

If McKinley is nominated it will be in order for me to congratulate 
him with "We're tenting to-night on the old camp ground." ^ 

Harrison nominated on the eighth ballot. Majority large. He is 
received here with much satisfaction; yes, with enthusiasm. 

June 26. — The Harrison and Morton nominations are sound politics. 
They are likely to be very popular and strong. Enthusiasm will begin 

1 "In the evening with Fanny attended an army song festival by the Presby- 
terian Church at Opera Hall. ... I was constantly reminded of Lucy. The 
'Tenting on the Old Camp Ground' recalled so vi\'idly the night of election day 
in 1875. Sitting with her in our home in Spiegel Grove, waiting for the returns, 
we said we were prepared for either event. I told her the contest was close, the 
result doubtful. She spoke cheerfully of the way we would bear defeat. 'Our 
personal interest in it was less vital than the cause,' etc., etc. We both knew 
well enough that victory meant the chance for the Presidency; the certainty that 
Ohio would present my name. Defeat meant retirement and obscurity. The 
first return was a dispatch to Lucy from Elyria indicating that our stronghold, 
the Western Reserve, was fully aroused and would give an old-time, war-time 
majority. Then two townships of Sandusky Comity gave encouraging gains; 
then from the southwestern part of the State a ward or township came in with 
the same drift. There was a lull of a few minutes when from the southeast, from 
Marietta, from Major Palmer, of the gallant old Thirty-sixth, came a dispatch 
which without figures filled the cup. It read, 'We are tenting to-night on the 
old camp ground.' That song has been full of pathos for Lucy and me always, 
but since that dispatch that night I never hear it without deepest feeling. And 
now alas! Lucy gone!" (Diary, October 23, 1889.) 



372 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

in Indiana, a partisan State, usually close. The people give much time 
to politics. Harrison will stir them up. Great meetings will be held. 
The spirit will extend to other States. A lively campaign all over, with 
the chances pretty even, but inclining to the RepubUcans. 

Jiine 27. — I wrote to-day to Sherman as follows: — 
"My dear Sherman, — You know how I and Mrs. Hayes and all 
of my household feel about the result at Chicago. We like Harrison, of 
course, and think the ticket ' good politics,' in the sense of availability. 
But you were so clearly entitled to it by service and fitness, and our 
personal feelings were so enlisted that we cannot think of it without 
great disappointment. I try to find comfort in the reflection that it has 
become usage in our country that the man of great and valuable service 
in civil life must be content to leave the Presidency to the less conspic- 
uous and deserving. In this case the one fact that Indiana was doubt- 
ful and Ohio sure compelled the adverse decision. The first statesman 
of the land can't be nominated when this consideration is not in his 
favor, if the contest is close. . . ." 

I write to Major McKinley in part as follows: — 

" My dear Major, — I congratulate you heartily. Depew behaved 
handsomely. He left the convention with enhanced reputation. But 
who else was so fortunate.'' You gained gloriously. The test was a 
severe one, but you stood it manfully. It was finely done. A better 
crown than to have been nominated. 

"The old story was reenacted. . . . 

"There were ambitious men near you at Chicago. That of course. 
Men in political life must be ambitious. But the surest path to the 
White House is his who never allows his ambition to get there to stand 
in the way of any duty, large or small. The man who is guided by ambi- 
tion alone, who acts from policy, 'cannot somehow sometimes always 
teU.' 

"My old friend. Judge Johnston, used to say, *The Presidency is 
unlike the Kingdom of Heaven, — those who seek shall never find.' ^ 

"Since 1868, twenty years ago, [Republicans] have not been so 
united as they are now. 

" I could not help telling you how my young hero looked to his old 
friend at a distance." 

June 29. — Harrison and Morton seem to please in all quarters. No 
such unity among Republicans in the support of any ticket since 1868, 
twenty years ago. In 1872 Grant's unfortunate Administration had 
alienated thousands — Greeley, Sumner, Depew, and a host. In 1876 
the hard times and the Greenback craze took off thousands, making 
Ohio even and other Western States doubtful. Besides, Conkling's 
disappointment sent him to his tent in a fit of sulk. In 1880 again 
Conliling was sullen and hostile with his Stalwart followers until the 
canvass was nearly finished. Besides this, Garfield's record — Credit 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 373 

Mobilier, De Golyer, etc. — was a load. In 1884 Blaine's record drove 
off thousands. Now all are content, at least with Harrison, and most are 
enthusiastic. 

November 9. — Went to Cincinnati via Toledo after voting at 9 a.m. 
Rain fell during the day beginning early. Called a Democratic day for 
election. I protested that the Republicans were quite as energetic as 
their opponents, and that the weather would not hurt. It so turned out. 
I read the " Life of Lincoln," by Stoddard, on the cars. Rode in a coupe 
to my friend's home — Dr. Davis. . . . [In the evening] went to the office 
of the Commercial Gazette. Met there Halstead and Boynton. Both 
hopeful, and the returns seemed to lean our way. Thence to the Lin- 
coln Club. Admitted by strangers without a ticket on giving my name. 
With many friends — Mayor Smith, Mack, Noyes, etc., etc. — gos- 
sipped over the returns. A mass outside anxious but hopeful, waiting 
for definite results. It became noised outside among the multitude 
that I was inside. Calls began. They grew more frequent. The no- 
tion, I suspect, prevailed that I hesitated to show myself until a cer- 
tainty was reached. At any rate, when I appeared finally at the window 
my appearance was hailed with a shout from the "sea of upturned 
faces" that was indeed the shout of victory. I never before saw or 
heard anytliing like it. I soon went home to Dr. Davis's well satisfied 
that the result was with us. Before going I spoke to the members on 
the introduction of Governor Noyes in their assembly. . . . 

Awoke at early daylight. I listened anxiously to hear the cries of 
the newsboys. I soon recognized: "All about the election of General 
Harrison." I rose hastily and went out in the rain. Soon got a Post 
and Enquirer which confirmed the newsboy's cry. I returned in a grate- 
ful frame of mind. "How good," "How good," I murmured to myself. 
Such is government under our system. The best and decentest election 
I ever knew. I recall distinctly, boy and man, elections for more than 
fifty years, from 1836 when I was a schoolboy at Norwalk Seminary. 
With a good deal of respect for Cleveland, and with sympathy for his 
young wife, I cannot but specially rejoice that such good people as 
General and Mrs. Harrison are to carry their clean ways and pure lives 
into the White House. Besides, I do hate Cleveland's course towards 
the veterans of war ! 

Almost immediately after the result of the election was known, 
letters from all sorts of people who were "anxious to serve their 
country," as Mr. Hayes puts it, came swarming to Spiegel 
Grove, beseeching Mr. Hayes to say a good word to Mr. Harri- 
son in behalf of the writers. To most of these he replied very 
briefly. When he knew men to be worthy and competent he 
was glad to write letters to that effect and to commend them to 
favorable attention. To one man in the consular service, a good 



374 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

officer whom he had himself appointed, who was not satisfied 
^-ith such a letter and wrote him a petulant complaint, he 
replied : — 

... I am asked by a host of others to request the President to ap- 
point them. Thej^ say, as you do, without a moment's thought, " This 
you can easily secure me" Many of those who ask this are old friends, 
army comrades, and persons known to me to be worthy. To grant their 
demand would be to treat with disrespect the President, and to put 
myself in the absurd attitude of assuming the appointing power of the 
Executive! 

All I do is to give a testimonial as to the fitness of the apphcant, and 
to recommend his appointment. . . . 

To continue the excerpts from the diary : — 

March U, 1889. — The President and Mrs. Cleveland have in their 
personal conduct, so far as I know, behaved with discretion, modesty, 
good nature, and good sense, with possibly one exception. For them 
it is no doubt well to leave the high place now. Those who are in such 
a place cannot escape its unfortunate influence on habits, disposition, 
and character. In that envied position of power and distinction they 
are deferred to, flattered, and supported under all circumstances, 
whether right or wrong, or wise or foolish, by shrewd and designing 
men and women who surround them. Human nature can't stand this 
long. If the President and his wife are to return to private life at all, 
it is better to do it at the end of four years. A longer life in the artifi- 
cial and hothouse atmosphere of the high station would leave an im- 
press which would color unfavorably all of their later years. Now Mr. 
and Mrs. Cleveland can escape the tendencies, and in due time become 
again good, and, I hope, happy citizens. 

March 13. — The President makes a mistake in turning the appoint- 
ments over to the Senators and Representatives. They will use it to 
pay debts. It is a return to the spoils system. 

November 5. — The election day in many States. . . . ITie Democrats 
seem to be in the best condition. There is the usual dissatisfaction to 
weaken the party in power by reason of the spoils doctrine; then, the 
dismissal of Tanner hurts with the soldiers. Governor Foraker leans 
too much towards the boss system and spoils system. He is injured 
greatly by this. He is brilliant, witty, eloquent, and very popular with 
the hurrah boys, but the sober and conservative element of the party 
dislike his methods and would be glad to see him run behind the ticket. 
Some want him beaten, and votes will be lost. I hope we shall carry 
the State, elect Governor Foraker and the whole ticket, securing the 
Senator, etc., etc. But I am not at all confident. 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 375 

November 6. — The Democrats seem to have carried everything. If 
the reports of this afternoon are correct they have the state ticket and 
Legislature as well as the governorship. It was anticipated that Foraker 
would be beaten, but it was hoped that the state ticket and Legislature 
might be saved. It is useless to spend time on causes. They are easily 
seen. Rutherford [his son] suggests one consolation for this household 
— "It leaves you the only Governor ever elected for a third term!" 

November 8. — The Democrats celebrate their victory to-day. Our 
gifted and brilliant Governor is very enthusiastically supported by the 
strong party men. He is an extreme partisan, and those who are like 
him in this respect stick to him. But, as often happens with such men, 
he is unpopular at the polls — more so than Blaine ; as much so as 
Conkling would have been in a state or national election. He is lacking 
in sober judgment. His partisanship blinds liim — makes him an un- 
safe leader; and his bitter sarcasm excites a corresponding animosity 
against him. It was unwise to run him a third time. 

March 27, 1890. — The Administration does not make appointments 
hastily. Great care taken by the President. Not always happy in the 
way of doing it; a lack of tact, perhaps,^ but conscientious and judicious. 

November 4- — This is the day of the general election. I anticipate 
Democratic gains, a Democratic Congress. The first election of im- 
portance after a new President is aflfected by the disappointments of 
office-seekers, and the other failures to meet extravagant hopes. In 
this case also the new tariff law, the McKinley Bill, is easily misrepre- 
sented as increasing the cost of all goods. On the whole, all that is saved 
in the general disaster is gain. But we shall see. For McKinley himself, 
defeat, if it comes to him, is no serious disaster. The sober second 
thought will perhaps elect him Governor! The see-saw of political life 
is to be counted on. 

June 5, 1892. — Blaine resigns from Harrison's Cabinet — bad rela- 
tions between Blaine and Harrison; more important, between Mrs. 
Blaine and Mrs. Harrison. Now a fight for the nomination at the Re- 
publican National Convention, the 7th! There may be enough division 
and hostility to defeat the Republicans. It clouds their prospects for 
the time. Probably the only chance is to drop both Blaine and Harrison 
and combine on Sherman, McKinley or — ? Blaine's former conduct, 

^ This lack of tact is again referred to in a letter to General Force (December 
20, 1891): "I send you a note to President Harrison, a good man and a good 
President, but with an unfortunate lack of tact and good-natured manners. His 
coldness and indifference when meeting strangers is sometimes offensive. A 
friend of his about to introduce to him some nice people, ladies and gentlemen, 
said to them: 'Don't think he means to insult you; it is his way!' I never hap- 
pened to notice an extreme case of this sort — but, etc." 



376 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

•with this, will carry many Republicans into opposition if he is nomi- 
nated. Insincerity and lack of honesty, in the opinion of many good 
people, will injure Blaine if he is in the race. He is popular, very, 
but lacks the confidence to command support with the thoughtful and 
conservative. 

June 10. — Half-past four p.m. Telephone from the Journal office 
that Harrison was nominated on the first ballot. This is well — perhaps 
the best possible under all the circumstances. It gives Blaine a very 
black eye. He came into the fight when he was honorably bound to keep 
out. He had the support of almost all of the unscrupulous bosses, Piatt, 
Quay, Foraker, Clarkson, etc., etc., etc. Harrison represents the best 
elements of the party. I hope McKinley has borne himself, as I am 
confident he has, as a man of honor should. Judge Lucius B. Otis, 
formerly a partner of Uncle in banking here, for thirty or forty years 
a capitalist of Chicago, is visiting at Aunty Miller's. He thinks Harri- 
son is not a popular candidate. "He is a deacon in the Presbyterian 
Church. They are never liked by the people. They are stiff, cold, dis- 
tant. They are the elect of God — by faith, not works, to be saved, 
etc., etc." 

November 8. — Election day. The lack of interest continues. Whether 
Harrison or Cleveland is in doubt. If a full discussion had been had, 
I think Harrison's reelection would have come with the vote of every 
Northern State. As it is, it seems to me the chance of Cleveland is the 
best. The coimtry can stand it. 

November 9. — The election is reported "a landslide"! Even Ohio is 
claimed by the Democrats. As I see, both candidates lack personal 
popularity. Neither excites enthusiasm with the active men in politics, 
the workers. This has led to the most lethargic canvass ever known in 
a Presidential contest. This is explanation number one; for in such a 
canvass the Democrats always have the advantage. The saloons can 
rally out the ignorant elements, so large in the Democratic party. 
Second, the outs always have the better chance. Third, and chiefly: 
The labor vote, holding the balance of power and better organized than 
ever before, joined the Democrats. This is shown by the vote of the 
large cities — Boston, Brooklyn, New York, Cliicago; and, in Ohio, 
notably Youngstown and Mahoning County, Canton and Stark County, 
Newark and Licking County, Akron and Summit County, and 
Cleveland. They evidently thought they did not get their share of 
the profits of their labor by an increase of wages — the argument of 
Governor Campbell, shrewdly and persistently urged : "Where is the 
workingman who gets an increase of wages and better employment 
under the McKinley Bill?" Workingmen saw the capitalists going to 
Europe to spend the fortunes acquired in America, while labor was 
not in an equal degree benefited by protection. So labor, holding the 
balance of power, threw its votes in favor of a change. 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 377 

How about the future? At the next general election, with a free trade 
or revenue tariff enacted by the Democrats, will Governor Campbell 
ask: "What laborer gets better wages by reason of the new law?" 
or will it be Governor McEanley that will repeat that question with an 
emphasis that will win back the balance of power? ^ 

These citations from the diary indicate that Mr. Hayes never 
lost his grasp of political conditions and forces. He was acute 
in observing the drift of public opinion and in forecasting prob- 
able results. The very day after the election of 1892 he seemed 
to have prescience of what was to happen in 1896. 

It remains to say a word about Mr. Hayes's attitude toward 
certain large questions of political and social import. He be- 
lieved that it would be to the advantage of all concerned if 
Canada, in an altogether amicable manner, could be made a 
part of the Union. There was much talk of such a possibility 
from time to time on both sides of the line, but never enough 
sentiment in its favor to make it more than a dream. Mr. 
Hayes gives his thought on the subject in his diary (May 25, 
1879) in this paragraph : — 

The annexation to the United States of the adjacent parts of the 
continent both north and south seems to be, according to the phrase of 
1844, our "manifest destinj'." I am not in favor of artificial stimulants 
to this tendency. But I think I see plainly that it is now for the interest 
of both Canada and the United States that properly and in order, and 
with due regard to the feelings of Great Britain, the two countries 
should come under one Government. If it were known that we would 
probably pay the whole or part of the Canadian debts, or would assume 
to pay them, would it not stimulate the feeling in favor of annexation 
in Canada? 

On the very day that this was written Mr. William Henry 
Smith happened to be a visitor at the WTiite House. He wrote 
at the time a memorandum of his conversation with the Presi- 
dent. In this he says : — 

I find that the President is full of the question of annexation and 
would like to bring it about during his own Administration. He is 
doing everything that is proper to have the question fairly considered 

^ "The election: the wonder is the landslide was not more sweeping. The 
Democrats, I believe, carried just half of the States!" (From letter to William 
Hem-y Smith, November 20, 1892.) 



378 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

by the thoughtful men of the two countries, and is keeping up a pretty 
active correspondence. He counts on the influence of the heavy debt 
whicli Canada has, and the increasing migration from one [country] to 
the other. His plan is for the United States to assume the debt, and 
for our people to push into the Red River country and thus americanize 
that portion of the country from Lake Superior to the Pacific. This is 
being done rapidly, and whether in the time of this Administration or 
of the next, it is soon to be. I told him of the efforts of the present 
[Canadian] Government to keep the people of Manitoba loyal through 
the press, of wliich I became aware some months ago. The Prime Min- 
ister had purchased press and all material needful for a plant, and sup- 
plied money to the extent of twenty-five thousand dollars to put the 
paper on a paying basis. His agent had called on me for assistance in the 
way of obtaining news and correspondence. 

The President beheves that, when the conditions are favorable, 
negotiations can be successfully opened with the British Government. 
When he heard that the Duke of Argyle was coming to visit the INIar- 
quis of Lome, he invited him to the Executive Mansion, but unfor- 
tunately the state of his health is such [that] the Duke felt constrained 
to deny himself. Already Secretary Evarts has been invited by the 
Marquis to meet the Duke at the Canadian capital, and he has ac- 
cepted. Secretary Evarts is not as sanguine as the President. 

While, of course, nothing came of this ambitious enterprise, 
Mr. Hayes adhered throughout his life to his belief in the de- 
sirability of its ultimate consummation and frequently recurred 
to the subject in conversation with friends. He believed that 
coalition would bring to the Union an added conservative force; 
and would result for Canada in vastly more rapid development 
and vastly greater prosperity. 

Mr. Hayes continued to the end of his life to believe that a 
single Presidential term of six years, to provide for which he had 
in his inaugural address recommended a constitutional amend- 
ment, would be a most desirable reform. In the last year of his 
life he wrote the following letter: — 

Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Onio, 27 May, 1892. 

My dear Mr. Cuhtis, — I have long had it in mind to write to you 
in behalf of a single Presidential term of six years, and to urge you to 
make it the special aim of the National Civil Service Reform League. 

Tliis letter will be hastily written, but the suggestion I offer has been 
maturely considered, and is my deliberate opinion, after such reflec- 
tion as I am able to give. A few days ago I read in the Civil Service 



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INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 379 

Record your excellent address at the April meeting in Baltimore. The 
society by pegging away is gaining step by step. But here is an op- 
portunity. The country is ready for it. It will give the society prestige 
for all its other issues. Receiving ]VIr. Eaton's article in the North 
American for June this morning decided me to delay no longer. Noth- 
ing is more in the way of the reform of the civil service than the Presi- 
dent's natural desire to have the indorsement of a second term. I 
respect Mr. Cleveland. He is sound, independent, and firm. I do not 
hesitate to speak well of him on all occasions. But his last two years 
— well, to be moderate, did not strengthen the reform of the civil serv- 
ice. He fell a victim to the necessity of a reelection. The society you 
are at the head of is doing good, but it does not attract new supporters 
to the cause as it would do with the salient issue of One Term for the 
Presidency. Please think of it. I see reasons in all directions as plenty 
as blackberries. But I will spare you the list. 

I am tempted to add a word of criticism on one sentence in your 
address. It is not of great importance and the statement was probably 
a passing inadvertence. You speak of the use of patronage by the 
President in elections. You say: "There has been no Administration 
since that of John Quincy Adams which has not done the same thing." 
Always an admirer of John Quincy Adams and of his public career, I 
am yet persuaded that while he personally never turned his hand over 
to get promotion, he was no more clear of offense in that direction than 
myself. And if you speak of those under him, his Cabinet and other 
officials, high and low, I am satisfied that they interfered in elections 
more than those under me. It is certain he did not do half as much to 
prevent it as I did. I can speak of one locality and you must know of 
another. My files of newspapers show that officeholders were in force 
in the Adams Convention in State and country in 1828; they also 
show that in 1880, for the first time since party government began, 
they were conspicuous by their absence from all party caucuses. How 
was it in the pivotal place under your eyes — New York City? Did 
Adams officeholders show less activity in machine work than Col- 
lector Merritt, Postmaster James, and Naval Officer Burt.? But I am 
boring you. — Sincerely, 

RUTHEBFOHD B. HaYES. 

Hon. Geobge William Cuetis. 

In regard to temperance Mr. Hayes believed that for the in- 
dividual, in this country at least, the only absolute safety lay 
in total abstinence.^ He sympathized with the main purpose of 

' In July, 1891, in response to a request from Mr. John A. Bruce, of Glasgow, 
who was preparing a publication, to be entitled Why I am a Teetotaller, Mr. 
Hayes wrote his views as follows: "Whatever may be true in other countries, 
I am satisfied that in America total abstinence from intoxicating liquors is the 
only safety. No doubt there are some men in the United States who can drink 



M 



380 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

all temperance workers, though he disapproved the intemper- 
ance of speech that often marred their oratory. In his view, the 
cause was best to be served, not by the activities of a separate 
political party, but by dependence on moral and religious forces. 
He regretted to see the tendency of the Methodist clergy and 
church to identify themselves with the Prohibition party, be- 
lieving that they would thereby weaken their influence in the 
cause of righteousness. "To invoke the spirit of party, and to 
adopt the methods of practical politics in behalf of religion or 
temperance, tends to increase and spread the evils of intem- 
perance and to weaken and destroy the power and influence 
of rehgion." ^ The true methods of promoting temperance, he 
said, "are education, example, argument, and friendly and 
sympathetic persuasion. Legislation and political parties in 
the interest of temperance all aim at the hquor-seller. They do 
not reach his customers. If he is a criminal, what is the man who 
tempts him? If there are no customers there will be no sellers. 
, . . The only laws which apply to the subject are laws to prevent 
nuisances. When the liquor business becomes a nuisance it is 
not a question for temperance people merely, but all citizens 
become interested in removing the nuisance. The legislation 
required in such cases, therefore, is not temperance legislation, 
not legislation in the interest of temperance reform merely, but 
legislation in the interest of good order, for the suppression of 
crime and violence, and such legislation may well be left to the 
sense of duty and self-interest of the community at large." ^ 
Until by the process of education an overwhelming public 
opinion condemned the buyer as well as the seller of liquor, he 

saw that prohibition must be a failure.^ In 1883, therefore, he 

• 

in moderation without injury to themselves. But the majority will suffer serious 
injury and many will be ruined by the habit. No man can know beforehand that 
he can remain a moderate drinker. For Americans, with their nervous and ex- 
citable temperament, and with its tendency to excess, there is, in my opinion, 
no halfway house between total abstinence and danger. I have tried total ab- 
stinence. It has never interfered with my health or happiness or comfort, but 
has beyond question always promoted them." 

1 Diary, August 27, 1881. ^ Diary, October 12, 1881. 

s "Statutes which embody the settled public opinion of the people who en- 
acted them (and whom they are to govern) can always be enforced. But if they 
embody only the sentiments of a bare majority, pronounced under the influence 
of a temporary excitement, they will if strenuously opposed always fail of their 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 381 

refused to vote for the prohibition amendment to the state 
censtitution. "The amendment," he said, "would be something 
worse than a dead letter. Its effect would be free trade in liq- 
uor." ^ In his earlier life he had hope and faith in the Maine 
law and was zealous in its behalf. But observation and experi- 
ence had demonstrated its lack of efficacy. It was useless to 
blink the facts. "It is in the long run the demand that brings 
the supply. Where there are no buyers there will be no sellers. 
Where there are many buyers there will be sellers in spite of 
your laws. To the vice and crimes of drink you will add the 
crimes of law-breaking, of perjury, of hypocrisy, of meanness!" ^ 

Mr. Hayes was never greatly impressed with the merits of 
the agitation in favor of woman's suffrage. He wrote in his 
diary, April 27, 1870: "My point on this subject is that the 
proper discharge of the functions of maternity is inconsistent 
with the like discharge of the duties of (the political duties of) 
citizenship." Society should take note of the widening scope 
of women's activities and adapt its educational system to meet 
the demands that were thus created. His attitude is sufficiently 
defined by the following statement: — 

In America the opportunities, the work and the influence of women 
grow wider and wider. Whether we like this tendency or not, we can- 
not fail to see it. We ought to recognize it in the training of our girls. 
The weak point in female education in this country is the neglect of 
health. We have too much bending over books and too Uttle open-air 
exercise — too many studies, too Uttle work, and too httle out-of-door 
play. 

INIy wish for the American woman is that she may always be an 
elevating influence — man's inspiration. Let him go forth to duty 
while she weaves the spell which makes home a paradise to which he 
may return, ever welcome, whether he is victor or vanquished. 

RUTHEKFORD B. HaYES. 

Spiegel Grove, 
10 November, 1890. 

During the last few years of his life Mr. Hayes was profoundly 
interested in the social problems which began to press for solu- 
tion. The growing unrest of the laboring masses, flaming forth 

object — nay, they are likely to imperil the cause they ai-e framed to advance." 
(Diary, February 17, 1882.) 
1 Diary, October 9, 1883. * Diary, November 5, 1889. 



382 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

at times in the violence of strikers and in the preaching of so- 
cialistic and anarchistic doctrines, and the tremendous con- 
centration of wealth in a few hands, with the heartlessness and 
arrogance frequently displayed by exploiters and capitalists, 
were evidence to him that society and government must busy 
themselves in bringing about a larger measure of social justice. 
"A few get more than their share; the working, productive 
many get less than their share," he wrote, November 6, 1887. 
"That is the corner-stone fact — is the evil to be prevented in 
the future by peaceful and lawful means. Of course, lawless- 
ness and violence are to be put down. Order and property are 
to be preserved." ^ A few days later (December 4, 1887) he 
writes in the diary : — 

In church it occurred to me that it is time for the public to hear that 
the giant evil and danger in this country — the danger which tran- 
scends all others — is the vast wealth owned or controlled by a few 
persons. Money is power. In Congress, in State Legislatures, in City 
Councils, in the courts, in the political conventions, in the press, in the 
pulpit, in the circles of the educated and the talented, its influence is 
growing greater and greater. Excessive wealth in the hands of the few 
means extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness as the lot 
of the many. It is not yet time to debate about the remedy. The previ- 
ous question is as to the danger — the evil. Let the people be fully 
informed and convinced as to the evil. Let them earnestly seek the 
remedy and it will be found. Fully to know the evil is the first step 
toward reaching its eradication. Henry George is strong where he 
portrays the rottenness of the present system. We are, to say the least, 
not yet ready for his remedy. We may reach and remove the difficulty 
by changes in the laws regulating corporations, descent of property, 
wills, trusts, taxation, and a host of other important interests, not omit- 
ting lands and other property .^ 

1 In a speech on St. Patrick's Day, 1886, in Toledo, at a banquet of St. Pat- 
rick's Institute, Mr. Hayes said: "The ideal community for a free government 
in one in which all are educated, in which all are or have been workingmen, and 
in which all are or can be owners of homes. In America, as we approach this 
ideal condition the foundations of our institutions grow stronger. As we drift 
away from it they are more and more imperilled. As long as the workingman 
can indulge a reasonable hope that by industry, temperance, and frugality he 
can become the owner of a home, educate his children, and lay up a competency 
for his support in old age, our country will continue to be the land of the free. 
Whatever stands in the way of this stands in the way of the perpetuity of free- 
dom in America." 

* "The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the 
few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds of laws 



r 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 383 

Among the papers of William Henry Smith is preserved a 
contemporary report of a conversation he had with Mr. Hayes 
a few days after the above words were WT-itten. Mr. Hayes told 
of being in New York a few weeks before, during the Henry- 
George mayoralty campaign, to attend a meeting of the Pea- 
body Fund trustees. He had been surprised and pleased to find 
that several of the most eminent of these trustees were in full 
sympathy with the George movement, or at least with the ideas 
that lay behind it. Among these were Robert C. Winthrop, 
personification of Puritan culture and New England conserva- 
tism, who saw in it "a protest against the WTongs that had grown 
up and were now threatening the life of the Republic"; Chief 
Justice Waite, who commended it, because, he said, "The dollar 
is too much regarded; character and humanity too little," and 
cited the case of the recent looting of a prosperous railway by 
unscrupulous capitalists; and Bishop Whipple, who declared: 
"I can think of nothing else. I lie awake nights with this ques- 
tion constantly in mind, and uncertain of the right solution. 
There are great inequalities in society; suffering and depriva- 
tion on the one side, and luxury and unjust, dangerous power 
in the hands of a few. There is an awful responsibility resting 
upon this generation." Mr. Hayes went on to say: — 

If the forces of the present day continue unchecked, within twenty- 
five years the classes will stand in New York, every nine men out of ten 
without homes or capital, one tenth owning everything. Then, look 
out! Rehance on force will not do. Building of fortifications and ships 
will not avail. You cannot solve the problem by such temporary ex- 
pedients. How shall we meet it? Justice and education are the instru- 
ments. I believe the intelligence of the American people will be equal 
to every emergency in the future as it has been in the past. Legislation 
must cure the defects — this is the true remedy. The governmental 
policy should be to prevent the accumulation of vast fortunes; and 
monopolies, so dangerous in control, should be held firmly in the grip 
of the people. What! leave uncontrolled a power that buys your Coun- 
cils, your Legislatures, and your courts? Shall the will of monopolies 
take the place of the Government of the people? Monopoly is offensive; 
it destroys individual enterprise; it antagonizes the principle of personal 

of Congress [and of] all the State Legislatures are in the interest of these men and 
against the interests of workingmen. These need to be exposed and repealed. 
All laws on corporations, on taxation, on trusts, wills, descent, and the Uke need 
examination and extensive change." (Diary, March 11, 1888.) 



384 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

liberty which is the very corner-stone of repubhcan government; it is 
a menace to the people. The Standard Oil is a liberal monopoly and 
pays its employees better wages than other employers — a policy dic- 
tated by fear, perhaps. The Roman people were fed and entertained 
while being robbed of their liberties. This monopoly stands for a great 
deal already. It attempted to seize political power and usurp the 
functions of the State. It elected Hoadly Governor; elected Payne 
Senator, when the great mass of the Democrats hated him, and nine 
out of every ten wanted either Thurman or Wa^d; and attempted by 
outrageous frauds to steal the senatoiship held by Sherman. In the 
words of Chief Justice Waite, the dollar has too much to say in the 
affairs of the Republic. It would be well if the power of supervision 
exercised by the Government over the national banks were extended to 
other things. The Interstate Commerce Law, one of the crudest ever 
passed, is yet one of the most beneficent in its results. The Govern- 
ment should say to dangerous combinations, " Thus far and no farther ! " 
The Dartmouth College decision you and I have always regarded as an 
anchor that fixed things permanently in this country. I guess it was a 
mistake, and that it gave to capital a power that should rest only with 
the people. 

Mr. Hayes's later expressions on this general subject are 
adequately represented by the following citations from the 
diary:— .|^ 

March 18, 1890. — Began to read Dudley Warner's fine new novel 
"A Little Journey in the World." Sensible, sound, and charming. 
Curiously enough, it adds another to the list of "Nihilistic" novels — 
to the "Hazard of New Fortunes," by Howells, "A Yankee at King 
Arthur's Court," by Mark Twain, etc., etc. Of course I mean no dis- 
paragement by the word "Nihilistic." I use it to mean all opinions 
tending to show the wrong and evils of the money-piling tendency of 
our country, which is changing laws, government, and morals, and 
giving all power to the rich and bringing in pauperism and its attendant 
crimes and wretchedness like a flood. Lincoln was for a government of 
the people. The new tendency is "a government of the rich, by the 
rich, and for the rich." The man who sees this and is opposed to it I 
call a "Nihilist." 

November 27. — The rich and the so-called fortunate owe a duty to the 
poor and unfortunate. The first, and by great odds the chief, duty, is 
simple justice. They owe them just laws, just methods of business, and 
a fair share of the good things of the world, such as education, prop- 
erty, opportunity. 

December 10. — The wealth of our country is increasing rapidly and 
enormously. The question of its distribution presses more and more 



INTEREST IN POLITICAL QUESTIONS 385 

urgently. The great question in our day and generation plainly is the 
property question, the question of wealth. Shall it be held, controlled, 
owned by a few? or shall it be wisely, equitably, that is widely, distrib- 

( uted? More and more, wealth gives power, estimation, reputation. 

\\ Shall only a few have it? Wealth, education, opportunity, power go 
together. Shall they belong to a few, or to the many? They will rule 
always in a free country. Wlio shall rule, the few or the many — a 
plutocracy or a democracy? That is the question. 

February 6, 1891. — The burning question of our time in all civilized 
countries is the question of wealth and poverty, of capital and labor. 
1 1 Small progress has yet been made toward its solution. Why? Because 
I ignorance and not intelligence has taken hold of it. The potent ob- 
jection, the stronghold of the existing injustice, is the futility, not to 
say folly, of the remedies which ignorance is able to contrive. Let men, 
both intelligent and true to the interests of the laborer, take up the 
problem. All fair-minded men admit that labor does not now get its 
fair share of the wealth it creates. All see that wealth is not justly dis- 
tributed. Let education send into our society a body of laborers, edu- 
cated and intelligent, able to deal with this grave question. 

It is easy to see, therefore, on which side Mr. Hayes's sym- 
[ pathies and influence would have been in all the efforts that 
I have engrossed the attention of the people and enlisted the 
' I activities of statesmen in recent years, to control or eliminate 
monopoly and to check the malign operations of concentrated 
capital. He would have joined heart and soul in any sound 
movement that promised to destroy privilege and to restore 
conditions of free and equal opportunity — to make the Gov- 
ernment in fact as well as name a government of and for the 
people. 



CHAPTER XLII 

THE FINAL SCENES 

IN all the life at Spiegel Grove and in his benevolent and 
public-spirited activities, Mr. Hayes had the constant sym- 
pathy and support of Mrs. Hayes. In all respects there was 
complete accord of purpose and ambition, complete unison of 
sentiment in service for the public good. Mrs. Hayes was al- 
ways busy in good works in behalf of deserving causes or indi- 
viduals. Indeed, in the case of the latter, she solved all doubts 
in favor of their deservingness. In the larger work of the church, 
the cause of home missions appealed to her most. For many 
years she was president of the Home Missionary Society of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, faithfully performmg the duties 
thus assumed, and presiding at the annual meetings with 
dignity and grace. Her influence and example did much to 
build up the society. In whatever city the annual meeting of 
the society was held she was the recipient of constant social 
attentions from old friends and new. 

Whenever it was possible Mrs. Hayes accompanied Mr. 
Hayes on the journeys that his various activities made neces- 
sary. Her last journey with him was to New York in the latter 
part of April, 1889, when the centennial anniversary of the 
inauguration of Washington as first President was celebrated 
with great pomp and circumstance. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes 
shared with Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland and President and Mrs. 
Harrison the special honors of the occasion. They participated 
in all the various festivities, and at the banquet which marked 
their culmination Mr. Hayes responded with dignity and pro- 
priety to the toast, "The Presidency." ^ Wherever Mrs. Hayes 

1 The more significant paragraphs of this speech were: — 

"The tree is known by its fruit. Experience has shown that in ordinary times 

the executive power is of no greater importance — perhaps it is less vital — than 

the legislative or judicial power. Indeed, so happily constituted is the Presidency 

that we must say of each of the twenty-six Presidential elections under the 



J 



THE FINAL SCENES 387 

went she was as much a centre of attraction and received as 
great homage as in the White House days. This New York visit ^ 
was her last appearance in the life of the great world. 

Constitution, that either candidate might have been elected, and the good citizen 
whose partisan feeling was strongest and whose disappointment was bitterest 
could repose on his pillow consoled by the reflection, 'Although my party is 
beaten, my country is safe.' Is it not true that our executive authority is so 
fashioned that in ordinary times it has always been so administered that the 
Republic has received no detriment? WTien gigantic perils and disasters 
threaten, when extraordinary character and powers are demanded, these great 
occasions have always found strong hands to deal with them. 

"We can truly say of the Presidency that the results of twenty-five consecu- 
tive terms have vindicated the wisdom of the fathers who established it. Of 
twenty-two terms there are two things which may be said : One is that no great 
remediless harm came through the executive power to the people it was intended 
to serve. The other is that if no eminent historical benefit, lasting through the 
ages, was conferred by most of them, it was perhaps because the opportunity 
for illustrious achievement did not occur. But during them all the nation, by 
its inherent resources and energy, pushed rapidly forward in a career of un- 
paralleled prosperity and happiness, unimpeded by executive crimes or blunders. 

"Finally, during the critical and anxious years of the other three Presidential 
terms the opportimity came to America, and she gave to the world two Chief 
Magistrates whose character and deeds, unrivalled in human annals, were 
crowned by a devotion to country and mankind which enabled them to furnish 
an example of independence of personal advantage and of selfish love of power, 
of wealth, and of title, either for themselves or their families, absolutely unknown 
before in the history of the rulers of the world. By their administration of the 
Presidency, Washington and Lincoln have made the great oSice, and the Cen- 
tury whose completion we celebrate, illustrious forever and forever!" 

^ During this visit, Friday evening. May 3, Mr. Hayes was a guest at a nota- 
ble dinner given by Colonel Elliott F. Shepard. Of this, in his diary (May 4), 
he gives the following record : — 

"Last evening attended a semi-political symposium at Colonel Shepard's. 
Southern Governors and three officers of the New York Southern Society, with 
the interesting purpose to talk up the Southern situation and other problems 
now requiring solution, gave interest to the unusual meeting. 

"There were present our host. Colonel Shepard; on his right, at the large 
square table, perhaps sixteen feet square, was General Gordon, on his left Gen- 
eral Buckner (Governors respectively of Georgia and Kentucky); next on Gor- 
don's right, myself, on Buckner's left, Mr. Senator Evarts. This was the head 
of the table. On the right side [Mr. William P.] St. John, John C. Calhoun 
(grandson of the great statesman), Mr. [Logan C] Murray and Judge [Noah] 
Da\'is. On the square opposite Colonel Shepard, Chauncey Depew was at the 
centre; General Butterfield [and Alfred R. Conkling] on his left, General Howard 
on his right. On the fourth side were Russell Harrison, Mr. [John F.] Plummer, 
Mr. [Arthur E.] Bateman and Mr. [Magrane] Cox. 

"It was a notable assembly; the dining-room stately and elegant. After 
dinner, beginning about 7 p.m. and ending about 9.30 p.m.. Colonel Shepard 
rose and spoke of the Southern problem, without defining it, and called on Gov- 
ernor Gordon. He spoke in a friendly spirit, fluently, and at times eloquently. 



388 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

A few weeks after the return to Fremont, without the slightest 
forewarning, fell the fatal stroke which terminated her earthly 
course. One of her brothers had died some years before from 
apoplexy, and she had felt premonitions that her end might 

The importance and rights of the States were dwelt upon, and he closed with 
decided devotion to the perpetuity and supremacy of the Union. 

"Next Governor Buckner spoke of the gravity of the negro problem — too 
large to be discussed fully in an after-dinner speech. But alluded to the Anglo- 
Saxon race in the usual way of our Southern friends, and then touched hand- 
somely the question of increasing wealth on the eastern border of the Union. 
'The centre of population is steadily moving west, and the centre of wealth 
is moving east.' Wealth gets in fewer hands, etc., etc. Then an anti-tariff 
speech, as the main cause of this. Devotion to Union and the general Gov- 
ernment. 

"Mr. Shepard in one of his talks of introduction alluded to the inequality of 
representation in the Senate, and suggested a change in the future as to small 
States coming in hereafter. Next he introduced me with high comphments. 
When he closed, and the toast in my behalf had been drunk, as in all cases, by 
the company standing. Governor Gordon rose, and said he wanted to say a few 
words touching my Presidency. He said: [Instead of Mr. Hayes's summary 
Governor Gordon's exact words follow.] 

"'I am going to ask the privilege of adding just one word. It was my fortime 
to be in the United States Senate when that memorable contest between the 
distinguished New Yorker and the gentleman whose health we have just drunk 
was being conducted before the Congress of the United States. I was a very 
strong partisan of his opponent. I believed him to be fairly elected. I did not 
believe, when this distinguished gentleman was inaugurated, that he could, 
under the circumstances peculiar to that case, administer this Government on 
the broad, magnanimous plan which I thought became the President of this 
great Republic. I saw much of him, differing with him in many respects, but 
I soon learned, and I wish to declare, that his heart and thought were bent in 
one direction alone. I have told him at this table to-night, and I feel impelled by 
a sense of justice to him to say it more publicly, that I learned to appreciate him. 
I will say in the presence of you, gentlemen, that in all the line of distinguished 
men who have filled that office, no man ever sat in that chair who, in the judg- 
ment of a political opponent (as I was), was ever actuated by a more single- 
minded or a more exalted purpose to discharge his duty to every citizen, every 
section, and every State, than was Rutherford B. Hayes.' 

"It was well received by the company. 

" I expressed my appreciation of his kind words in a single sentence. Then I 
spoke of the few things we must accept as settled — negro suffrage and the 
Senate. [Here too, in place of the summary, sentences from the verbatim report 
are given.] 

"The general topics that we have been listening to are such as interest us all. 
I have supposed that as to a number of questions that have been suggested 
they are substantially settled by facts and by the Constitution. Begin to meddle 
with that old Constitution under which we have lived for a hundred years, dis- 
turb its compromises in any particular, and it is a little uncertain upon what 
changing, uncertain, and stormy sea we would launch our Government. We 
have come to love the old institutions. The work of Washington is dear to us. 



THE FINAL SCENES 389 

come in like manner. It was a lovely afternoon in June (Friday, 
the 21st) when the grove was never more beautiful. Carpenters 
were busy finishing the latest addition to the house, to the 
completion of which she was eagerly looking forward. She was 
seated in a low chair in front of the southwest window of her 
room engaged in sewing, looking up now and then to watch the 
young people playing tennis on the lawn, apparently in the best 
of health and spirits. Suddenly the maid who was with her no- 
ticed that she had become silent, and was gazing fixedly at her 
needle. There was no response when the maid addressed her; 
and no words ever after issued from her lips. Medical aid and 
nurses were summoned at once and tenderest care was given 
her. Mr. Hayes, who had been absent for some days at Columbus 
on State University business, came two hours later, accom- 
panied by his favorite niece, Mrs. Mitchell, hearing the dreadful 
news first as he stepped from the train. The invalid was con- 
scious when he arrived, as the pressure of her hand and her speak- 
ing eyes signified; and she so remained, at least at intervals, 
until Sunday morning, when no effort could rouse her more and 

I would say, in regard to all of this, let well enough alone. We have lived under 
the old instrument a hundred years; let us go on with as little change as may be. 

"We perhaps made a mistake in the arrangement of the senatorships. Let it 
stand. We perhaps made a mistake in conferring too early upon the black man 
the right of suffrage ; that may be possible. But is n't it certain that existing 
facts require us to consider it fixed.'' Is n't it better to consider what we can do 
to make this population just what we would have it, exercising with us equally 
the great right of suffrage? During the last eight years, since leaving entirely 
active political life, my thoughts and my work have been chiefly in connection 
with questions of this sort — how best to educate all our people to be indeed fit 
to exercise the right of suffrage, to be American citizens. Heart has as much to 
do with it, perhaps, as brain, after all. I do not think we are going to suffer in 
the futin-e. How different it is to-day from what it was during most of the years 
of our lives on all these questions ! 

"Fifty years ago Mr. Adams delivered an address, which was full of painful 
suggestions, on the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of Washington. 
None of the troubles that he saw are now with us. And now how gratifying the 
change! There is no very wide diflference between us. We can still talk about 
the old ideas, but when it comes to any practical legislation, the Constitution is 
the same in New York that it is in Georgia and Kentucky. This continental 
Republic, with its inspiring future, has one destiny, surely, for Kentucky and 
Georgia, for Maine and California. George Washington is the one figure of a 
hundred years ago, and we may not have a George Washington to turn our 
thoughts to now; but as to every sentiment growing out of that Constitution we 
are far better off than we were fifty years ago or a hundred years ago. We are 
in deed and in truth one country, with one Constitution and having one destiny." 



390 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 



all hope forsook the anxious watchers. The end came in the 
hush of the early morning of Tuesday, all her family watching 
in silent anguish as her gentle spirit took its flight. There were 
present also Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. Adda Cook Huntington, and 
Miss Lucy Elliot Keeler, all near relatives, and Mrs. A. H. 
Miller, an intimate friend and neighbor. 

As soon as the news of the sudden aflBiction was flashed over 
the wires, messages and letters, at first of inquiry and hope and 
later of sympathy and condolence, began to come by hundreds 
to Spiegel Grove from all parts of the country. Never before in 
the history of America had the death of any woman touched so 
many hearts with sorrow, or evoked so numerous expressions 
of sympathetic praise, or filled the press with such a variety of 
approving comment, of elegiac verse, and of encomiastic remi- 
niscences and anecdotes. All pens and voices were at one in 
lauding her life and character, her interests and activities, as 
those of the highest type of womanhood.^ 

From the White House, from Grand Army posts, from the 
Woman's Relief Corps and numerous other societies, and from 
friends far and near, came flowers in endless profusion and variety 
of symbolic arrangement. It was estimated at the time that ten 
thousand people gathered in the grove at the hour of the funeral 
on Friday. Business in the town was suspended, even the post- 
office being closed on orders from Postmaster-General Wana- 
maker. The services, which were simple, were conducted by 
Dr. L. D. McCabe, — who had been Mrs. Hayes's teacher at 
Delaware and who had officiated at the marriage and the silver 
wedding, — assisted by President Bashford of the Ohio Wes- 
leyan University. Mrs. Hayes's favorite hymns were sung, "My 
Jesus, as Thou wilt," "When peace hke a river attendeth my 
way," and "God be with you till we meet again." The last had 
always been sung at the close of the annual reunion of the 
Twenty-third Regiment, with Mrs. Hayes leading. Dr. McCabe 
spoke very briefly, reviewing the striking qualities of Christian 
character which Mrs. Hayes had exemplified throughout her 
life. "The contact with the world," he said, "did not spoil the 

1 Not long after her death philanthropists established and endowed at Wash- 
ington in her memory the Lucy Hayes Deaconess Training School, which has 
accomplished much good. 



THE FINAL SCENES 391 

loving-kindness of her nature. She was always finding some 
human heart that needed binding up. Much of her Divine 
Lord's spirit she had in a tender regard for humanity, which 
could brook no unkind word, indeed, could brook nothing which 
could wound a fellow being, however lowly." 

Members of the Twenty-third Regiment, which had always 
idolized her, a score or more in number, some of whom had 
travelled long distances to be present, marched on each side of 
the hearse in the procession to Oakwood Cemetery. On the way 
the band played softly the tunes Mrs. Hayes had always liked 
to hear at soldier funerals — "America," "Tenting on the Old 
Camp Ground," "Hail Columbia," and "Nearer, my God, to 
Thee." At the grave-side the burial service of the Methodist 
Church was read by Dr. Bashford, and in the impressive silence 
that followed the solemn "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes," the 
four sons and four nephews lowered the coffin to its place. To 
those who stood close about the tomb the world seemed very 
desolate as the clods fell dully on the coffin. The June sunshine 
was less bright, and the songs of the birds and the flowers that 
breathed their fragrance on the air seemed all in mockery of 
their woe. 

Li the weeks that ensued Mr. Hayes was utterly crushed in 
spirit as he mourned his irremediable loss. So perfect had been 
the union of lives, so close and necessary the companionship, 
that now all the uses of the world were become for him weary, 
flat, stale, and unprofitable, and he could think of nothing so 
desirable as to lay down the burden of this world and be at one 
with his life companion once more. He found some consolation 
in the letters of friends reciting numberless kindly acts of hers 
that they remembered, and he took a melancholy pleasure in 
replying to these letters, and in himself recording characteristic 
incidents in her career; in enumerating the qualities and virtues 
that had so distinguished and adorned her fife, and in gathering 
and arranging everything in the way of comment, memorial, 
or memento that bore relation to her life." "She wanted to treat 
all of God's creatures as she would wish to be treated in their 
place," he wrote of her. "I think of her as the Golden Rule 
incarnate. All humanity was dear to her, and beyond any person 
I ever saw she loved to make all happy, and was gifted with the 



S92 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

faculty of doing it. She loved Christ and all good Christians. 
She cared very little for the formalities of religion; believed in 
the orthodox doctrines, but was liberal and all-embracing in 
her charitable views as Christ himself. She had friends she 
valued in every church and of no church. One writer about her 
fitly says, 'She had no obtrusive goodness.'" ^ 

Gradually, however, the resources of his philosophy miti- 
gated his absorption in his great sorrow,^ albeit his loneliness 
never permitted him to be unconscious of the desolation that 
had come into his life; ^ — 

" And slowly, though his loss he felt as much. 
His grief was softened by Time's healing touch." 

Little by little he resumed his interest in the philanthropic and 
educational activities to which he had dedicated his later years 

^ "She had a many-sided nature; was fond of all fanning, of cattle, of her 
dairy, of her poultry yard, of her flowers, of sailing, fishing, of all children's 
sports; was fond of looking on at the dancing in the ballroom; of all great gather- 
ings; of soldiers marching and drilling; was selected to take part in many scenes 
of all sorts, and enjoyed it. Her best day at the New York Centennial, 30 April, 
1889, was the Naval Day in Commodore Bateman's yacht." (Diary, July 2, 
1889.) 

"As I walked away from church an old M.E. brother — a teamster by pro- 
fession — said, ' There was a notable thing at the funeral, I noticed and many 
others. The Jerseys — her Jerseys — all came up as near to the funeral proces- 
sion as they could get and stood in a row looking at it, standing still like soldiers 
in ranks until the funeral had all passed.'" (Diary, August 11, 1889.) 

^ There was comfort for him, too, in the presence of his niece, Mrs. Mitchell, 
who remained at Spiegel Grove for several weeks. On her departure Mrs. 
Herron and two daughters came from Cincinnati for a month's visit. Soon after 
their return he wrote to Mrs. Herron: "It was very lonely after you and the 
dear young folks left. But your visit carried me forward a long way. The sharp 
pangs are less frequent, and the periods of settled gloom are shorter and rarer. 
I find myself rapidly getting back into the old ways. Nothing could have done 
so much good as reading and talking with you. It is annoying — I am almost 
ashamed to own to myself how the skies begin to brighten above me once more." 

^ At the Prison Congress at Nashville in the following November, Mr. Hayes 
closed his opening address with the following reference to Mrs. Hayes: "During 
almost forty years it has been my fortunate lot tolive under the same roof with 
one, now gone to the world beyond, whose gift, and whose delight, it was to 
shed happiness on all around her. Her joy was so radiant because her life was the 
very incarnation of those few humble words which fell naturally from her lips: 
'I know I am not good, but I do try to treat all others as I would wish to be 
treated if I were in their places.' Surely, my friends, if our legislation and its 
execution and our conduct as communities and as individuals can be penetrated 
and controlled by the spirit of the Golden Rule, a solution will be found for every 
problem which now disturbs, or threatens to disturbtour American society." 



THE FINAL SCENES 393 

and he continued to perform all the duties that they required of 
him. Relatives and friends were made as welcome as of yore to 
Spiegel Grove. Indeed, he lavished affection on his relatives, 
and he cherished and cultivated his friends with even greater 
devotion than before. He called frequently on the neighbors 
he liked best and always had some of them with him when he 
went to drive. His daughter became his constant companion 
in the journeys that his public services made necessary; and she 
accompanied him on a visit to Bermuda, when constant atten- 
tions were bestowed upon him by the colonial authorities and 
the British officers stationed there. 

He was never more occupied -svdth the various interests and 
duties that claimed his attention than during the last few 
months of his Hfe. He attended the Grand Army Encampment 
at Washington in September, 1892, marched in the procession 
with the old soldiers,^ and took a conspicuous part in the re- 
unions and camp-fires. 2 Wherever he appeared he was greeted 
with tumultuous cheers. Then followed in rapid succession a 
visit to New York to attend the meetings of the Peabody and 
Slater trustees, and to be an honored spectator of the great 

^ "Tuesday. The day of the great parade. I had tramped afoot with my com- 
rades in post duties at home, at state encampments, and at the national encamp- 
ment in Detroit. It struck me as the thing to do to follow these precedents at 
Washington. The people looking on and the comrades approved by applause 
in a very gratifying way. Nothing of the sort could have been better than the 
demonstration on Fifteenth Street, — Treasury on one side, Riggs House on the 
other, — and as I approached the stand. Senator Hawley led in the cheering. 
It was enough to stir the blood of the coldest and oldest ! Evening, dined at Army 
and Navj' Club, meeting at table General Schofield, Vice-President Morton, 
Senators Manderson [and] Hawley, and other notabilities of the army and 
navy gathered to meet me. After dinner a general hand-shaking." (Diary, Sep- 
tember 20, 1892.) 

^ "Tuesday evening was the meeting of the Army of West Virginia in the 
Grant tent. . . . General Rosecrans, Governor Pierrepont, General Powell, and 
others spoke, and I presided. The event of the evening was the going-out of 
the electric lights, leaving us in total darkness ! But the result was typical of 
the good order which prevailed throughout the whole encampment. The strange 
thing occurred — perfect order, and we went on with the speeches and busi- 
ness of the society, elected officers, passed resolutions, and quietly adjourned 
the great audience, having no noise or confusion, except the usual applause 
when good things were said. When General Rosecrans was speaking, some 
one said, 'We would like [to] see his face!' I lighted a match and held it near 
his face! This was greeted with great applause, or rather the old veteran was 
I heartily applauded." (Diary, September 21, 1892.) 



394 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 



naval and military parades and to share in the festivities that 
accompanied them; participation in the Indian Conference at 
Lake Mohonk; and a journey to Chicago to take part in the 
dedication of the Columbian Fair buildings. On these occasions 
he was the recipient of every courtesy possible from those in 
authority, and his appearance in public was in each instance a 
signal for spontaneous and prolonged cheering. Never, in fact, 
since the White House days, had he been greeted with greater 
manifestations of popular esteem. And all this gave him a feel- 
ing of deep satisfaction and touched his heart with gratitude. 

Hardly had he returned to Spiegel Grove when word came 
of the death of Mrs. Harrison. Thereupon, as already noted, 
he journeyed to Indianapolis to attend the obsequies, and ac- 
companied President Harrison on his way back to Washington 
as far as Columbus. Early in December occurred the annual 
Prison Congress, that year at Baltimore. Mr. Hayes presided 
as usual, making the opening speech. In this he pleaded espe- 
cially for wise restriction of immigration so as to prevent the 
influx of criminals and defectives, virtually deported by Euro- 
pean countries at that time to our shores; and he gave this ad- 
mirable definition of the purpose and aims of the society, to 
which he had devoted so many years, as his last contribution 
to the cause : — 

The true prison reformer labors to introduce the spirit of the Golden 
Rule into the whole territory of duty embraced in the great subject 
of criminal jurisprudence. The prime object is the protection of society 
and individuals by the prevention of crime. The means by which we 
seek to attain this end are : — 

1. The speedy and certain arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of 
the guilty. 

2. The reformation of con\acts by the valid reclaiming forces: re- 
ligion, education, and productive labor. 

3. The permanent incarceration of all prisoners not reformed. 

4. The most effectual means to prevent crime is an unceasing, con- 
scientious, and wise care in the training of the young. 

In all of these paths the progress at any given period seems difficult 
and slow, but in a generation it is unmistakable and encouraging. 

This visit to Baltimore was Mr. Hayes's last journey outside 
the State. But late in the month he was at Cleveland to preside 
at a banquet of Kenyon College alumni and at Columbus to 




RUTHKRFOKD B. HAYES, 189:; 
At the age of seventy ; the last photograph 



THE FINAL SCENES 395 

address the Ohio College Association on his favorite theme, the 
importance of manual training in our educational system. The 
holiday season was passed by him most pleasantly at home, with 
all the members of his family present to share in the customary 
celebration. And now, quite unknown to him, — when his eye 
remained undimmed and all his powers of mind and body were 
apparently unimpaired, while he was busy with his self-imposed 
duties and was planning soon to make another journey through 
the South in the interest of the Peabody and Slater benevo- 
lences, — his days were drawing rapidly to their close. He had, 
to be sure, long had a conviction or feeling that he should not 
long survive the scriptural threescore years and ten, if he lived 
to that age. As his seventieth birthday drew near, he had 
written (September 16, 1892) : — 

The best idea I recall, the result of my almost seventy years of ex- 
perience, is the capacity of men and women for self-improvement. 
Shakespeare says, "By use (habit) we can almost change the stamp of 
nature." Beginning early the young can train themselves to good dis- 
positions, to good minds, to steady nerves, to courage, to self-control, 
and to all the virtues and graces of mind and body. How vast, how 
important! 

I have a desire, not intense but growing, to live to seventy. I now feel 
as if I could leave this sphere willingly after that day — 4th October 
next, two weeks and four days.^ 

^ On his birthday he wrote: — 

"My birthday. Seventy years old to-day. Now my life is as happy as that of 
people of the common standard — more so, I suspect, far more so. I have tried 
to phrase my best lesson from the observation and experience of the seventy 
years. The idea is the chief distinction between man and the lower animals, 
namely, his improvability by self-culture. A man can by self-culture, with care 
and perseverance, 'almost change the stamp of nature.' He can add to his nat- 
ural faculties and powers; he can supply defects, eradicate evil tendencies, and 
strengthen and quicken all good tendencies and powers. This is the vital fact 
in our nature. Washington, naturally with a violent temper, by self-culture 
acquired a wonderful control over this tendency. 

"My tendency to nervousness in my younger days . . . gave some serious 
uneasiness. I made up my mind to overcome it, to maintain steady nerves if 
possible under the most trjnng circumstances. In the cross-examination of wit- 
nesses before a crowded court-house, as in the Nancy Farrer case in 1850 or 
1851, I soon found I could control myself even in the worst of testing cases. 
Finally, in battle, I was not in the least disturbed by shells bursting near me. 
Recently the dentist, plugging a large cavity in a tooth, said, 'It will not give 
you much pain, but it will disturb your nerves.' I replied, 'I have no nerves.' 
He said, ' I think I shall find some nerves.' After he had worked away, pounding. 



396 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

On the Sunday before the fatal ilkiess overtook him he wrote 
in his diary (January 8, 1893) : — i» 

In the afternoon I drove with Rutherford around the grave of Lucy 
in a sleigh. My feeling was one of longing to be quietly resting in a 
grave by her side.^ 

The next morning early he set out for Columbus to attend a 
meeting of the board of trustees of the State University. ^ He 
was engaged in university interests and in visits to his friends 
and relatives until Thursday afternoon when he took the train 
for Cleveland. As he often did, he found a seat in the smoking- 
car, because he liked to join in the easy acquaintanceship and 
conversation which that car seems to engender. One of his 
chance travelling companions wrote an account of the afternoon 
while its incidents were still vivid in his mind. From this it 
appears that Mr. Hayes was in a most genial and happy mood. 
He entertained the group throughout the trip with incidents 
of his experience in public life; told how, in order to save the 
Soldiers' Orphans' Home, a German member of the Ohio Senate 

grinding, and filing for some time, I fell into a sweet sleep in his hands, his work- 
ing having rather a soothing effect! 

"As I was going to the first opening ceremony of the great Centennial Ex- 
position, from Buffalo direct by a new railroad to Philadelphia, the train was 
met at all stations with a welcome to the notabilities and to the new railroad, 
bands, crowds, flags, and cannon firing. At one place the cannon a few feet from 
the track was to be fired just after the last car had passed. The train stopped 
more suddenly than was anticipated and the shot was fired direct into the win- 
dow where I sat. The glass cut my forehead so it bled freely; the powder and 
wet wads plastered my face and eyes, etc. ; but I did not stir. A fellow passenger 
a few seats away, as the smoke cleared off, looking at me saw I had not stirred 
and thought I was killed. He came to me. I told him in the most matter-of- 
fact way that I was sure I was not hurt seriously, although I could not see and 
was covered with blood!" 

1 To an old friend, Mrs. Eliza G. Davis, of Cincinnati, he had written Decem- 
ber 31 : " Yesterday was the wedding day — forty years ago ! How many of the 
kind friends of that glad day are gone to the unseen! Our turn to leave must 
soon come to us. You are ready and nothing to lose — nothing to fear. I have 
the same feeling as to myself. 'God be with you till we meet again.'" 

'^ "How long is this going to last?" he said to his son Rutherford, on the way 
to the station that blustery morning. "These trips are wearisome, although the 
duty is very pleasant, and the objects those in which I am greatly interested. 
From some of them I shall be brought home in a pine box, but that is as good a 
way as any. We have all got to die sometime, and it matters little how or where 
except as it affects the feelings of family and friends. The main thing is that the 
illness be short and painless." 



THE FINAL SCENES 397 

had spoken in English, German, and French all night, until an 
absent member could be rushed back by special train to Colum- 
bus; described his interview with the astute De Lesseps, when 
the latter was seeking to enlist American support for his Panama 
enterprise, and how that irrepressible gentleman had perverted 
for publication his unequivocal words of discouragement into 
expressions of sympathy and approval; related many anecdotes 
of the members of his Cabinet and other public men; and spoke 
with amused unconcern of the silly chatter of witless or malig- 
nant newspaper writers about his poultry yard. Mr. Hayes 
himself WTote that his fellow travellers were "an agreeable 
party." But the car w^as not adequately heated and Mr. Hayes 
contracted a cold which doubtless hastened his end. 

He was a guest until Saturday of Mrs. L. C. Austin, a rela- 
tive and intimate friend, at whose home his son Webb lived and 
whom he had frequently visited. On Friday he was busy with 
the affairs of Western Reserve University and visited the Uni- 
versity School in which he had been greatly interested. Saturday 
afternoon at the Cleveland station, as he was about to depart 
for Fremont, he was seized with an attack of angina pectoris. 
His son Webb obtained brandy for him and this somewhat re- 
lieved the intense pain, which he described as like that he had 
suffered after his severe wound at South Mountain. Webb 
urged him to return to Mrs. Austin's, but he said no; he longed 
to be at home. "I would rather die at Spiegel Grove," he de- 
clared, "than to live anywhere else." He was made as comfort- 
able as possible in the drawing-room of the Pullman car, and 
reached Fremont at seven, still in great pain, but no worse for 
the journey. Dr. Hilbish, the family physician, who had been 
forewarned by telegraph, met the train and accompanied the 
sufferer to Spiegel Grove. It was with a sigh of satisfaction that 
he presently f omid himself in his own room and bed — which 
he was never to leave alive. The physician did not at first 
apprehend a fatal termination of the malady. He did all that 
medical science could suggest, remaining almost constantly with 
his distinguished patient. 

But the weary heart did not regain its vigor. Mr. Hayes him- 
self had little doubt that his hour was come and he was pre- 
pared to "greet the unseen with a cheer." During the three 



398 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

days that he lingered he talked freely and cheerfully with mem- 
bers of the family, referring more than once to his last visit to 
his wife's grave, when he had a feeling of longing to be lying at 
her side. "And yet," he would add, "I am not unhappy. My 
life is an exceptionally happy one." But, after all, he felt that 
his life-work was done; that he had fought a good fight; that he 
had lived to see detraction and misrepresentation give place to 
recognition and appreciation; and he was quite ready to obey 
the final summons to put out upon the unknown sea. He de- 
sired "no sadness of farewell when he embarked." His last 
recorded words were said to Dr. Hilbish: "I know that I am 
going where Lucy is." While his suffering was greatly relieved 
by anodynes, he chafed at being confined to his bed — the first 
experience of the kind since he was wounded at South Moun- 
tain, more than thirty years before. Tuesday there seemed to 
be a change for the better and hope was quickened; but after 
ten that night conditions became rapidly worse, and near eleven 
he fell away painlessly into the endless sleep, in the arms of his 
son Webb, his daughter and Rutherford standing at the bed- 
side.^ And so "the faithful heart that had beaten high in battle 
grew faint and failed, and then the white stars watched until 
morning." ^ 

So little alarming had been the press reports that the news of 
the sudden death came to the country as a complete surprise. 
Messages of condolence at once began to arrive from the great 
and good in all parts of the land, from unnumbered relatives 
and friends, from those who had been associates in military serv- 
ice, in public affairs, in philanthropic and educational enter- 
prises, and from men in all walks of life who had been supporters 
and admirers of the man whose course was finished. The house 
was filled with flowers, many of them arranged in elaborate 
designs, from the White House, from the Legislature of Ohio, 
from Loyal Legion commanderies, from Grand Army posts, 
and from numerous other organizations, and countless individ- 
uals. The funeral took place Friday afternoon. In spite of the 

1 The oldest son, Birchard, and his wife, had spent the day at Spiegel Grove, 
but had returned to Toledo for the night, having no apprehension that the end 
was near. The youngest son, Scott, had not yet arrived from Cincinnati. 

^ Murat Halstead in New York Independent. 



THE FINAL SCENES 399 

snow and the severe weather, hosts of people from near and far 
journeyed to Fremont to look on the face of their friend once 
more and to share in the rites of sepulture. Mr. Cleveland, soon 
to be inaugurated as President a second time, between whom 
and Mr. Hayes the kindliest relations of sympathy and esteem 
had existed, came from Lakewood.^ Threatened indisposition 
deterred President Harrison from making the long journey at 
such an inclement season; but four members of his Cabinet, 
Messrs. Foster, Noble, Rusk, and Wanamaker, represented the 
National Administration, along with army and naval officers. 
Delegations were present from the two houses of Congress; and 
the Legislature of Ohio came in a body, headed by Governor 
McKinley, with his staff, and the state officers. Delegates from 
Loyal Legion commanderies and from other societies, and many 
other men of distinction were present from various parts of the 
land. General Henry C. Corbin, a close personal friend, had 
charge of all arrangements for the day. All the morning, the 
body lay in the great dining-room, amid the mass of flowers, 
surrounded by a guard of state militiamen, and thousands of 
townspeople and visitors filed past the coffin to gaze upon the 
features that death had left unruffled and majestic. As two 
o'clock approached, the coffin was borne to the front hall and 
over it were hung the American flag and the banners of the 
Loyal Legion of Ohio and of Massachusetts. There was no other 
decoration in hall or parlors. By this time the house was filled 
with the immediate family and friends and the distinguished 
visitors, and the outer doors were closed. Thousands of people 
stood in the snow about the house while the brief funeral service 
was celebrated. This consisted of the reading of the Twenty- 

* Mr. Cleveland incurred criticism from a few bitterly partisan papers of his 
own party, which could never forgive Mr. Hayes for being President. But sensi- 
ble and judicious people of all parties applauded him for his seemly and gracious 
act; quite agreeing with the sentiments expressed at the time by the New York 
Tribune : " He has done with modesty and dignity, and at considerable sacrifice 
of personal ease and comfort, a very gracious and becoming act, for which all 
American citizens who have pride in their country, its history, and its rulers, 
and all men everywhere who believe in that common humanity which at the 
edge of the grave forgets all imkindness, will hold him in high honor. It may be 
but a little thing, but it is one of those little things that go a long way toward 
smoothing out the differences that make so many misunderstandings in the 
world." 



400 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

third Psalm, by the pastor of the local Methodist Church, the 
Reverend J. L. Albritton; the singing of the hymn, "It is well 
with my soul," by a Cleveland choir, assisted by Mrs. Fred Dorr, 
of Fremont, a warm personal friend; an impressive prayer by 
President Bashford, of Ohio Wesleyan University; the favorite 
hymn, "God be with you till we meet again"; and the reciting 
by the entire company of the Lord's Prayer. Of this simple serv- 
ice the contemporary press account declares : — 

One might live a lifetime and never witness such a scene. Assembled 
counsellors and rulers of the nation with one accord bowed their heads 
and joined in the simple prayer of childhood and old age in strong and 
reverent tones. President-elect Cleveland and Governor McKinley, 
sitting side by side, humbly and devoutly lifted their voices with the 
rest. It was more solemn and impressive than any sermon, and more 
than one pair of eyes were dim when the amen was said. 

The procession to Oakwood was headed by Troop A of Cleve- 
land (of which Webb Hayes was a member) , the Toledo Battery, 
and the Sixteenth Regiment of the Ohio National Guard. Next 
to these marched members of the Grand Army of the Republic 
and of the Sons of Veterans. The honorary pallbearers were 
all men that had been close friends of Mr. Hayes: Secretary 
Charles Foster, representing the President; Governor Mc- 
Kinley; Dr. J. L. M. Curry, agent of the Peabody and Slater 
funds; Major E. C. Dawes, representing the Loyal Legion of 
Ohio; General Wager Swayne, representing the Loyal Legion 
of New York; General Manning F. Force; Colonel W^illiam E. 
Haynes, of Fremont, member of Congress; and William Henry 
Smith, the most intimate personal and political friend. The 
actual bearers were members of his old regiment, the famous 
Twenty-third, who carried the corse of their old commander 
with affectionate care. The relatives and funeral guests fol- 
lowed in carriages in appropriate order; and thousands of peo- 
ple walked the mile to Oakwood in the frosty sunlight through 
the deep snow. At the grave-side the service was "very brief 
and simple," the press account records, "but the grouping of 
figures rendered it indescribably solemn and impressive. Around 
the grave were the cavalry troop in yellow and blue, with the 
red-caped artillerymen in the background, and on the opposite 
side the regiment of infantry, while all about and everywhere 



THE FINAL SCENES 401 

were people anxious to witness the last sad duty to the dead. 
The picturesque uniforms of the cavalry and artillery, the soft 
blue of the infantry, the more sombre dress of civilians, and the 
brighter costumes of the ladies, with the bare trees above and 
the white robe of snow below, combined to frame a picture in 
the failing light of the afternoon that will last as long as hfe in 
the minds of all who saw it." \Mien the coffin had been lowered 
among the boughs of evergreen that hid the frozen earth, the 
Sons of Veterans fired a parting salute, and the bugles sounded 
taps.^ And so, as the -^-intry sunlight faded in the west, all that 
was mortal of the man that had nobly filled so large a space in 
the better history of his time and country, lay at rest beside the 
grave of his soul companion, whom, through years of sorrow, 
bravely borne, he had longed to join in that fuller Hfe, to which, 
as he confidently trusted, death was the portal. 

It is quite impossible in limited space to convey an adequate 
impression of the public honors and manifestations of respect 
that were paid at the time to the life and character and varied 
public services of Mr. Hayes. President Harrison immediately 
announced the death to the country in an executive order, di- 
recting that the White House and other government buildings 
be draped in mourning and the flags thereon placed at half-mast 
for thirty days; that on the day of the funeral all public busi- 
ness of the departments be suspended, and that mihtary and 
naval honors be ordered on that day. In this announcement 
he expressed this judgment of Mr. Hayes: — 

He was a patriotic citizen, a lover of the flag and of our free institu- 
tions, an industrious and conscientious civil officer, a soldier of daunt- 
less courage, a loyal comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful 
neighbor, and the honored head of a happy Christian home. He has 

1 TAPS 

The strenuous day is past. 
The march, the fight. 
The bugle sounds at last: 
"Lights out. Good-night." 

Sleep till the shadows take 

Their endless flight; 
Until the morning break. 

Good-night; Good-night! 

Ch. Hemenway Adams. 



402 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

steadily grown in the public esteem, and the impartial historian will 
not fail to recognize the conscientiousness, the manliness, and the cour- 
age that so strongly characterized his whole public career. 

The Supreme Court and both houses of Congress adjourned 
the day after the death in token of respect, Democratic members 
vying with Republicans in expressions of sorrow and apprecia- 
tion. The Legislatures of many States adopted resolutions of 
respect and adjourned their sessions. All the various societies 
and institutions with which Mr. Hayes was connected held 
memorial meetings, at which glowing eulogies were pronounced 
by men of high distinction; and countless other gatherings of a 
similar character were chronicled in all parts of the country. 
The minutes adopted by the Peabody and Slater trustees, and 
the tributes to his character promulgated by every commandery 
of the Loyal Legion, were eloquent expressions of the honor and 
esteem in which he was held by men who had been most closely 
associated with him. The newspaper and periodical press of the 
country gave large space to reviews of his career and to dis- 
criminatmg appraisal of his character and achievements. Only 
a very few journals, blinded by partisan passion, or cankered 
by the personal disappointment or malignity of their editors, 
sought to disparage his high qualities, or to question the integ- 
rity of his motives, or to belittle the sum and magnitude of his 
public accomplishments. These discordant notes were neither 
numerous nor serious enough to mar the general chorus of just 
recognition and appreciation. 

From the innumerable utterances of the time, a few para- 
graphs may be given, as typical of their prevailing character. 
The Reverend Washington Gladden, who knew Mr. Hayes well, 
delivered a memorial discourse at his church in Columbus on the 
Sunday next following the funeral, in which he said : — 

I have named him the "Great Commoner." This title was given 
first to William Pitt, in the days before he was the Earl of Chatham; it 
was the popular tribute to a lofty spirit who was "the first to discern," 
as one of his biographers phrases it," that public opinion, though gen- 
erally slow to form and slow to act, is in the end the paramount power 
in the State, and the first to use it, not in an emergency merely, but 
throughout a long political career." . . . Our own Great Commoner 
has won the title by the same qualities. He, too, was essentially and 



THE FINAL SCENES 403 

preeminently a man of the people. From the common people he rose, 
and he never rose above them. That persistent determination of his to 
walk in the ranks in the Grand Army parades has been censured by some 
as affectation. But to President Hayes it was the simple expression of 
a fact which he would neither deny nor ignore. He was a plain citizen, 
nothing more; he would not masquerade as anything else. While he 
held the Chief Magistracy of the nation, he magnified the oflBce; when 
he laid it down, he returned to his place. He knew the dignity of office; 
he knew also the dignity of private citizenship. . . . 

To multitudes in other States his great services have endeared him; 
but Ohio has the largest share in his renown. I think it must be allowed 
that he was her greatest citizen — the finest product, on the whole, of 
her century of history. That is a large claim, but I advance it with 
some confidence. When the future historian comes to test, by the 
standards of impartial criticism, the characters and the services of the 
men of Ohio who have been at the front in the nineteenth century, I 
think that the name of Rutherford Birchard Hayes will lead all the rest. 
Grant and Sherman and Sheridan were greater generals; Garfield was a 
greater genius ; and there have been greater orators and greater jurists and 
greater educators; but take him all in all, for an all-round man — citizen, 
soldier, statesman, scholar, man of books, man of brains, man of affairs, 
husband, father, philanthropist, neighbor, friend — there is not another 
who will measure quite as large as the good man who has just gone. 

Mr. Carl Schurz, writing in Harper's Weekly (of January 28, 
1893), declared: — 

It may be said without exaggeration that public station in this coun- 
try has seldom, if ever, been graced by a man of purer character, or 
higher and more conscientious conception of duty, and more patriotic 
motives. President Hayes assumed the duties of his office under cir- 
cumstances of unusual difficulty. Had he been a selfish politician, or a 
man of no more than an ordinary measure of moral courage, he would 
have sought the favor of the most powerful elements of his party, that 
they might fight his battles for him. This he did not do. He had noth- 
ing in view but the great interests of the country. ... He stood firmly 
by his principles. The Southern policy was maintained, the resumption 
of specie payments successfully effected, and the financial honor of the 
country preserved. It is true that the practical reform of the civil 
service fell short of the original programme; but considering that his 
predecessor had abandoned the whole system, that President Hayes and 
the heads of departments under him had to work without any appro- 
priations for the purpose, and were at every step obstructed and as- 
sailed by a hostile Congress, it is remarkable, not that not more, but 
that so much of permanent value was accomplished. . . . 

The ordinary politician has been, and probably will remain, fond of 
saying that the Administration of President Hayes was a political 



404 RUTHERFORD BIRCH.VRD HAYES 

failure. But what is political success? If it consists in devising and 
carrying through measures and policies salutary to the country, then 
the Administration of President Hayes, which sowed new seeds of 
peace, patriotism, and prosperity in "the States lately in rebellion," 
which gave new and vigorous vitality to the then moribund reform of 
the civil service, which infused a new spirit of purity and conscience 
into our political life, and which then was followed by a victory of its 
party mainly owing to the general contentment with the recent conduct 
of the Government, has been the most successful of all Republican 
Administrations excepting only that of Abraham Lincoln. 

At a memorial meeting of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal 
Legion at Cincinnati, February 1, 1893, General Keifer, who 
made the principal speech, said : — 

I knew General Hayes well; early in the war I met him. He was then 
a man of mature years, of sound and deliberate judgment, the same I 
have seen him exhibit under all circumstances since; sincere, candid, 
frank. He was the same as a soldier, as a citizen, as President of the 
United States, as Governor of Ohio, — all the way through life. He 
never sought to shirk a duty or spare himself. He was a great man in 
the great things that he had to do. He dealt with the things that were 
before him. He was never dealing with imaginary things. If he had 
work to do, he devoted himself to that. In that way he crowned himself 
with greatness; and this was in military matters and in civil matters, in 
official life, in private life; and this is the highest encomium that we can 
pronounce upon an American citizen. Hayes lived in a great epoch in 
this country; in a period of great things and great events, and he filled 
to the full all of the opportunities that were brought to him. In the < 
army he was devoted to his work; brave, patriotic; capable of com- 
manding an army, but proud to command a division or a brigade and 
to become a success there. He never worried because he was not at i 
the head of the army. He would have been a patient colonel all the time. 
These were the things that had much to do with making up the ele- 
ments of greatness in the man. 

I served in the Congress of the United States during the entire period 
of his Presidential term, saw him frequently and under all circum- 
stances, — and it was not always fair weather, — but President Hayes 
was cheerful and on duty all the time, by day and night faitlifully, and 
making his work count for the present and the future. President Haj'es 
never had a scandal about the White House. Nobody dreamed of his 
being anything but patriotic. Everything was clean and pure about 
him. Men criticized him from one standpoint, and some from another; 
yet he never turned aside from liis duty as he saw it. He had his stand- ' 
ard of duty and he lived up to it. And the result of it was, that if he | 
erred and had shortcomings, he had no apologies to offer, and criticism ; 
has never feazed his pure administration of the Presidency. 



THE FINAL SCENES 405 

The commandery later adopted a minute, prepared by a com- 
mittee consisting of William McKinley, Robert P. Kennedy, 
and Moses M. Granger, which had these sentences : — 

His works and charities enrich and ennoble his memory, and he has 
left behind him a wealth of good deeds more priceless than worldly 
riches. Rutherford B. Hayes was one of nature's noblemen. Unassum- 
ing, he yet possessed the courage of strong convictions, and was ever 
ready to defend his opinions and judgment to the last. 

Every battlefield which saw his presence witnessed his devotion. 
Every contest testified to his intrepid valor, whether leading the splen- 
did regiment with which his name is and will be forever associated, or in 
wider fields, gathering the renown which his patriotism, courage, and 
ability won from the willing hearts of his countrymen. 

True in his friendships and lasting in his devotion to his old com- 
rades, he never forgot a friend, nor failed to remember the sacrifices 
they had made. And those who had served with or under him always 
found him the same generous, manly, and kind-hearted companion. 

The political preferments which came to him at the hands of his 
countrymen did not spoil him nor destroy his usefulness and sincerity; 
but from every position to which he was elevated by the suffrages of 
the people, he came with the self-consciousness of having performed his 
duty ably, honestly, and faitlifuUy; and after generations will do him 
the justice to recognize him as one of the wisest and best of the nation's 
great leaders in the most trying hours of national reorganization. 

The country has lost one of its great statesmen and one of its most 
faithful defenders. His old army comrades have lost a brave com- 
mander, an honorable associate, and a wise counsellor: the Loyal Legion 
one of its most devoted and beloved Companions. And as citizens we 
have, each and all, lost a devoted comrade, a true and faithful friend. 
That which remains for us to cherish is the memory of this clean-handed, 
mild-mannered, clear-minded, noble-hearted patriot, statesman, and 
philanthropist — 

" A combination and a form, indeed. 
Where every god did seem to set his seal. 
To give the world assurance of a man." 

At the annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic of Ohio in 1893, Governor McKinley, who, it will be remem- 
bered, was throughout the war in Hayes's regiment, said : — • 

I never saw a braver or a better soldier than Rutherford B. Hayes. 
He was a pure man — pure in his life, pure in his walk, pure in his con- 
versation; his whole life was an example to the young men of the United 
States. In all the years I knew him, I never heard him utter an oath, or 
utter a sentence that might not be spoken in the most polite society of 
the world. Clean in heart, he was clean in speech. He hated anything 



406 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

unmanly; and his arm was never lifted against the right, for his soul 
abhorred wrong. I can say of him, as was said of another great states- 
man, a 

— "divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began 
And on a simple village green; 

"WTio breaks his birth's invidious bar. 
And grasps the skirts of happy chance. 
And breasts the blows of circumstance, 
And grapples with his evil star; 

"And makes by force his merit known. 
And lives to clutch the golden keys. 
To mould a mighty state's decrees. 
And shape the whisper of the throne ; 

"And moving up from high to higher. 
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope 
The pillar of a people's hope. 
The centre of a world's desire." 

General R. Brinkerhoff, long a member of the Ohio Board of 
State Charities, speaking before the Prison Congress at the 
World's Fair, Chicago (June 7, 1893), said: — 

Upon the whole, as a model American citizen in character and con- 
duct, in all the relations of life, I do not believe we have a better 
example in American history. ... As his life is seen in its true perspec- 
tive, I am very sure that no American President, who has yet lived, will 
be remembered more gratefully by the American people. He was not a 
brilliant or showy man and manifested no transcendent genius in any 
department of human endeavor, except perhaps the genius of common 
sense; but in every position he was placed he manifested a broad-minded 
comprehension of its requirements and discharged its duties ably and 
with marked integrity. 

And the Reverend F. H, Wines, who had been closely asso- 
ciated with Mr. Hayes in philanthropic work, speaking before 
the Congress of Charities, Correction, and Philanthropy at 
Chicago (June 12, 1893), said: — 

I think the quality in him which impressed us most was his superb 
self-control. He was master of his thoughts, master of his appetites, 
master of his passions, master of his tongue. His will dominated his 
body, and his conscience dominated his will. . . . He was never known 
to speak imkindly of a human being. He determined that, after leav- 
ing the White House, he would not be interviewed on politics, and I 
have seen the discomfiture of an overzealous reporter who attempted to 



THE FINAL SCENES 407 

accomplish the impossible. The fire in his eye, the set firmness of his 
mouth, and the gentleness of his voice, as he repulsed him, wUl live in 
my recollection forever. And the patient reserve with which he sub- 
mitted to abuse and misrepresentation, without opening his lips in 
apology, extenuation, or explanation, trusting his reputation to time 
and to the impartial judgment of history, was sublime. 

He entered the White House under the most extraordinary circum- 
stances, under bonds to enforce a policy of pacification which was most 
unpopular with his own party, and for which he received but scanty 
acknowledgment from the South, though Wade Hampton has truth- 
fully said that the South owes him a debt which it can never repay. He 
planted himself upon what he believed to be the right, and stood there 
like Simeon Stylites on his pillar in the desert, almost deserted by the 
politicians, compromised as a Republican by the attention shown him 
by Southern Democrats, and sustained only by his conscience and by 
the echoes of approval which reached him through private letters from 
scholars and from the common people. If Mr. Tilden suffered the stings 
of fate. President Hayes was a far greater sufferer. His only consolation 
was the spectacle of the irresistible rising of the tide of returning reason 
on the part of the Republicans, who were compelled to sustain him, 
when he resisted the attempt to attach political riders to the bills mak- 
ing appropriations for the support of the Government, a struggle in 
which he exhibited the courage of a Spartan and the self-possession of 
a sage. Yet he died unforgiven by those whose will he had crossed, with 
a willow at the head of the grave where there should have been planted, 
and will yet be planted, the laurel and the olive tree. 

Senator Dawes, addressing the Lake Mohonk Indian Con- 
ference of 1893, declared: — 

No President of the United States had ever before been elected by the 
narrow margin which placed him in the chair, nor had the title of any 
other President been determined by any such law as placed him there. 
And no man — I venture to say that it is the common judgment of the 
American people of all parties, looking back upon those times — no 
man with less of discretion and acknowledged honesty of purpose as 
well as devotion to the good of the country could have been, under the 
passions and bitterness of party politics, placed there, as he was, and 
commanded, as he did, the acquiescence alike of political friend and 
political foe. And that, too, without a ripple of disturbance in the pub- 
lic mind, or outbreak of passion in the party press of the country. 

His Administration was marked by a purity that, without dispar- 
agement of any other, has hardly been found in the history of the coun- 
try. During it all there was not a breath of scandal, and during it all 
there was no criticism which passed beyond that of honest difference 
of opinion as to policy and the political principles upon which govern- 
ment ought to be administered. 



408 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

When he retired from office, he did not consider that he had retired 
from the service of his fellow men. . . . The ancients inscribed on a 
monument erected in honor of one of their illustrious men these words: 
Cvjus negotium an otium gloriosius incertum. (It is uncertain whether he 
was more illustrious in his public service or in his private life.) So with 
our friend. Rich as is the example which he has left to us of his public 
service, the loveliness of his character and the sweetness of his temper, 
and the daily beauty as well as the noble work of his private life shine 
out to cheer and bless, and, I trust, to improve the life of those who 
knew him as I did. 

At a memorial meeting of the alumni of Kenyon College, at 
commencement time, 1893, speeches were made by distinguished 
alumni relating to every phase of Mr. Hayes's career. Mr. 
William C. Reynolds said: — 

President Hayes in his inaugural pledged himself never to be a candi- 
date for reelection, and therefore he was free to carry on his Adminis- 
tration in singleness of mind and unselfishness of purpose, to carry out 
the policy which commended itself to him. When his term ended, he 
left his exalted post with no unsatisfied ambitions, with no torturing 
desire to return to the stage which he had quitted, and, in the spirit of 
Goethe's splendid aphorism, he was ready to turn each day to the 
nearest duty. The duties of private life were to him as sacred and as 
ennobling as those which attracted the attention of the world, and he 
left no hour untouched by his devotion to duty, by his love of mankind. 
Of him it may certainly be said that he considered of one blood all the 
nations of the world. His sympathies went out for the poor Indian and 
he aimed to redress some of the century of dishonor which has attached 
to our nation. He sought to lift up the black man from the degradation 
which centuries of slavery had stamped upon him; but while his sym- 
pathies ran out towards the poor and oppressed, he was equally the 
friend of all. ... 

He was a man of rounded character, and with the desire for honorable 
fame. He was fortunate in his life, and I deem him fortunate in his 
death. He had filled the measure of his day; he went in the full ma- 
turity of his powers — honor, love, obedience, troops of friends. His 
I>resence has gone forever from our sight, but his name and his memory 
are a rich legacy to those who loved him and an inspiring examijle to us 
all. Sincere student, earnest friend, wise counsellor, tried patriot, brave 
soldier, friend, neighbor, brother — Hail and farewell! ^ 

1 The tributes from which these passages have been taken would, if printed 
in full, make a fair-sized volume, and they are only a few out of the multitude 
that were published in the months following Mr. Hayes's death. From the num- 
berless editorial articles in the daily press, the limitations of space forbid quoting 
more than these paragraphs from the Cincinnati Tribune : — 

"General Hayes was not a great man in the sense that we have come to look 



THE FINAL SCENES 409 

These citations, and countless others of a similar tenor could 
be adduced, bear eloquent testimony to the impression made 
by the personality of Mr. Hayes on men of force and character 
who knew him well and who were long and intimately associated 
with him in his public career or in the benevolent activities of 
his later years. Familiarity only deepened their regard and 
heightened their respect for his character and his powers. They 
never had any doubt of the true greatness of the man. He might 
not possess transcendent mtellectual gifts, nor the brilliancy 
and imaginative power displayed by great orators, but he had, 
in equipoise and under complete control, all the solid qualities 
of character and mind which fit a man to win the confidence of 
his fellows and mark him for their chosen leader. '^ These were 
a clear and penetrating intelligence, impregnable to the assaults 

upon Webster and Clay and Lincoln as great men, yet he never assumed a public 
duty that he did not discharge with a fidelity and intelligence that left nothing 
to be desired. From the humblest to the highest position duty was his watch- 
word, conscience his guide, and love of country his inspiration. Happy the na- 
tion with such a trinity embodied in an intelligent public servant. 

"Familiar with examples of partisanship exalting men into party idols, he 
refused the worship which intense devotion to party might have won, preferring 
the more honorable and enduring reputation which comes alone to him in whom 
love of country is paramount, and he lived to reap that honor, despite his con- 
nection with trying events which intensified partisan bitterness to the verge of 
national destruction. Had he been the mere partisan he could not have survived 
the contumely that connection provoked. 

" With a tact and wisdom so rare as to be unparalleled in our history he long 
since conquered the hostility of his political foes and placated those of his politi- 
cal friends who were too intensely partisan to appreciate the justice and candor 
of his methods and the transparent purity of his public policy. 

"The arts of the politician, deemed so essential to political preferment, were 
unknown to him, or, if known, were untried, for he considered no cause pro- 
moted by a victory dishonorably won. In this he ignored party traditions and 
for a season rendered himself obnoxious to party leaders, but he left his party 
stronger than he found it, thus vindicating the wisdom of his policy. 

"He was not of those who consider all virtue and wisdom to reside in his own 
party, hence he was in no offensive sense a partisan, because he was, first of all, 
a patriot. His political creed was summed up in the now familiar phrase: 'He 
serves his party best who serves his country best.' " 

^ Words used by Mr. Hayes, February 10, 1886, at the banquet of the Loyal 
Legion at Cincinnati, in speaking of General Hancock who had just died, can 
be applied with more force and propriety to Mr. Hayes himself. He said: "If, 
when we make up our estimate of a public man, conspicuous both as a soldier 
and in civil life, we are to think first and chiefly of his manhood, his integrity, 
his purity, his singleness of purpose, and his unselfish devotion to duty, we can 
say truthfully of Hancock that he was through and through pure gold." 



410 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

of sophistry; a judgment, cautious and deliberate in its action, 
but when once formed not to be shaken from its conviction; a 
will that did not waver; sincerity and honesty of mind and act; 
absolute veracity and candor in speech and conduct; faithful- 
ness in discharging every obligation imposed on him or assumed 
by him; constant and unquestioning obedience to the com- 
mands of duty; a conscience void of offense; a patriotism that 
rose above party, that was founded on mtense faith in the 
American Constitution and an abiding behef in the high mis- 
sion, under Providence, of America in the world, and that was 
ready to give his life for the country's welfare; an understanding 
of the common people — the great masses of his fellow country- 
men — and full sympathy with their needs and aspirations; 
unselfish interest in all wise endeavors for the public good. And 
with all this he was 

"Rich in saving common-sense. 
And, as the greatest only are. 
In his simplicity, sublime." 

Many who wrote or spoke of him at the time of his death 
applied to him the words of Tennyson just quoted from the 
ode to the great Duke. Equally appropriate are these other 
verses from the same noble poem : — 

" O good gray head which all men knew, 
O iron nerve to true occasion true, 
O fallen at length that tower of strength 
Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew! 

"He is gone who seemed so great. — 
Gone; but nothing can bereave him 
Of the force he made his own 
Being here, and we believe him 
Something far advanced in state. 
And that he wears a truer crown 
Than any wreath that man can weave him." 



CHAPTER XLIII 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 

IT is an impossibility ever to give a complete portrayal of the 
life and character, the interests and endeavors, of any per- 
son who has played a conspicuous role in the drama of human 
existence. The multipHcity of incidents and events in which he 
has had a share; the shifting currents of public opinion which 
have influenced his thought; the complex relationships of life, 
domestic, social, professional, political, which have affected his 
conduct; the inner and spiritual forces, due in large part to 
heredity and environment and early training, but modified by 
culture and self-discipline and increasing knowledge, which are 
the hidden sources of a man's real character, which determine 
his attitude toward life, which condition his motives alike in 
ordinary affairs and in the crises of his career, — how can all 
these things be adequately set forth on the printed page? We 
never know even our nearest friends in all the intimacies and 
implications of their character, in all the possibilities of their 
powers, though in essentials our conception of them be quite 
correct. How much more difficult fully to grasp and then to 
delineate precisely as he was a man who lived in other days — 
not so very remote in time, to be sure, but when the thoughts 
that shook mankind, the passions and aspirations that provoked 
controversy and roused to action, were so different from those 
which men now are finding most important. Only by patient 
effort and sympathetic imagination can one really enter into 
the feelings and hopes, the ideals and motives, of such a life. 
And even so, however vivid one's own conception may be, one 
never can be quite sure that one has not overlooked or over- 
estimated some fact or quality, nor fail to be conscious of the 
perils of overemphasis or of inadequate expression, when one 
strives to make that conception live in the written word. 

The portrayal of Mr. Hayes, as he lived and acted, which 
has been presented in the preceding chapters, is believed to be 



412 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD B.AY1E.S 

essentially accurate in statement of fact and in interpretation 
of spirit. But certain other details should be added, many, 
perhaps, of slight intrinsic importance, in order better to under- 
stand what manner of man he was. 

In personal appearance Mr. Hayes at the time of his election 
to the Presidency was a handsome man, with well-proportioned 
figure.^ He was five feet eight and one half inches in height, and 
his weight was around one hundred and seventy pounds. In his 
earlier manhood he had been somewhat slighter, but his four 
years of campaigning and of open-air life gave him a more stal- 
wart frame. At times in the White House and later his weight 
approached one hundred and ninety pounds, but seldom went 
above one hundred and eighty. He was strong and vigorous phys- 
ically, walked with a light, elastic step, and delighted in out- 
door exercise. In his student years he was fond of athletic sports, 
and when his sons were growing up he would join them in their 
games. He was an expert rifle shot and never lost his zest in 
firing at a mark. This was one of his means of recreation while 
he was President. He liked to drive, and always at Fremont had 
a pair of excellent carriage horses. He was fond of his dogs and 
took pride in his herd of fine Jerseys. His grounds were an abid- 
ing source of pleasure to him, and he was never happier than 
when planning to enhance their attractiveness, opening new 
vistas, and planting and nurturing new trees and shrubs. 

Mr. Hayes had a large head, well poised on broad shoulders. 
His features were mobile and expressive. The forehead was high 
and massive; the nose, straight and finely chiselled; the lips, 
firm but sensitive; the teeth, white, sound, and regular. The 
eyes, rather deeply set, under arching brows, were dark blue. 
They looked you straight and steady in the face, having no 
fear or apology or concealment in them, and usually beamed 
benignant; but on occasion they could flash with the fire of 

1 The Boston Transcript said editorially of him at the time of his visit to 
Boston in June, 1877: "President Hayes strikes observing people favorably, in 
the first place, from his robustness of form and remarkable cranial development. 
Beyond any acquirements, the result of culture or experience, his whole pres- 
ence conveys the idea of a stalwart manhood. He admirably represents the 
highest tj-pe of Western civilization. His manly figure, honest, brave, thought- 
ful, and occasionally lustrous countenance, together with tlie quiet, unmis- 
takable force which forms an essential feature of his individuality, mark him as 
a leader." 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 413 

battle or of righteous wrath, or could darken with scorn or indig- 
nation. Increasing age did not weaken their strength nor dim 
their vision. To the end of his life Mr. Hayes never used glasses. 

He had abundant hair of a dark brown color, though still 
showing hints of its earlier auburn shade, which he parted low 
on the left side and brushed well back from his forehead. He 
always wore a full beard from the time he entered the army. 
This had a reddish or sandy tinge. Already both beard and hair 
had begun to show slight traces of grey, which became more 
pronounced in the White House, and in the last years they were 
completely silvered.^ 

Mr. Hayes was most gentle in manner and speech. His voice 
was mild and evenly modulated; but it possessed a vibrant, 
penetrating quality which gave it great carrying power. He 
could always be heard in the largest assemblages, and in open- 
air political meetings few speakers could make themselves 
audible to a greater multitude. On the battlefield his commands 
rang out like clarion calls. 

Mr. Hayes had no affectations or vanities of apparel or de- 
meanor. He dressed simply and well in the prevailing fashion. 
He wore no jewelry, unless watch and chain and a plain gold ring 

^ An occasional correspondent of the London Times, writing from Washing- 
ton December 5, 1877, gives this pen-portrait of Mr. Hayes, after seeing him at 
an informal reception one evening at the White House: "I was struck by the 
perfect simplicity and polish of the President's manners — dignified, though not 
stiff, and full of the hearty abandon of a man who feels himself at home and 
among private friends. Many years ago I had been in the habit of seeing Presi- 
dent Pierce at the White House, the charm of whose manner and presence was 
proverbial in that day, and the actual President recalled him vividly to my 
mind, in appearance as well as in manner, and especially in the frank, soldier- 
like bearing and speech, and the total absence of all affectation or humbug in 
manner or conversation. Mr. Hayes is a man in the very vigor and prime of life, 
apparently in the enjoyment of perfect health both of mind and body. He is 
above the medium height, powerfully but compactly made, with broad shoulders 
and chest; an upright carriage of the head, clear eyes which look straight into 
those of his interlocutor, and fair hair and beard, into the latter of which some 
silvery hairs are beginning to make their appearance, premature as they may be 
for so comparatively young a man. Personally he certainly is a most prepos- 
sessing man, both in manner and appearance; and he looks as though he should 
be both a prompt and a decided one in character. The contrast between himself 
and the military 'Sphinx' lately encamped at the White House is most striking. 
The camp equipage and associations, and 'aides in waiting,' have disappeared 
from the Presidential mansion, and the stamp of a citizen President is on it once 
more." 



414 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

can so be called; nor any ornament except the simple insignia 
of the Grand Army and the Loyal Legion. One cannot conceive 
of him as appearing at a convention or in any pubhc gathering 
in military garb, or sombrero, or flaunting a bandanna. He 
had an instinctive aversion to all personal display, to any action 
that savored of ostentation. He practised none of the arts or 
devices in manner or speech of the demagogue. He never solic- 
ited a nomination to a political office of low or high degree; he 
never sought promotion in his years of military service ; he never 
strove to obtain any honors or distinctions in the varied rela- 
tions of private life, or the army societies, or the organized move- 
ments for public benefit in which he shared. Nominations, pro- 
motions, distinctions searched him out and were pressed upon 
him.^ The fidelity and conscientiousness, the ability and sound 
judgment with which he administered every office to which he 
was chosen, and fulfilled every obligation that he assumed, 
justified and approved the confidence of his sponsors and sup- 
porters and prepared the way for his further advancement. 
The master motive of his life, the mainspring of his conduct in 
public service and in private relations, was an imperious sense 
of duty; to be true to principles; to do that which he believed 
to be right on every occasion to the best of his ability. The very 
simplicity of this rule of life, which so easily explains his course 
of conduct in all the important crises of his career, constantly 
puzzled and bewildered men of more subtle quality, who, to 
accomplish their purposes, relied in no small part on the forces 
of indirection, on the agencies of intrigue, and on the artifices of 
compromise and combination. 

Mr. Hayes was frank and outspoken in the expression of his 
views and sentiments to trusted friends, and in giving them to 
the public when he thought the proper occasion had arrived. 
But he never talked on a subject before he had thought about it; 
and no politician or reporter for the press, however pertinacious, 

1 "One of the fortunate facts in my career is that I never had an overweening 
fondness for political life. My ambition for station was always easily controlled. 
If the place came to me it was welcome. But it never seemed to me worth seeking 
at the cost of self-respect, of independence. My family were not historic. They 
were well to do; did not hold or seek office. It was easy for me to be contented 
in private life. An honor was no honor to me if obtained by my own seeking." 
(Diary, July 3, 1890.) 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 415 

could extract a word from him when he chose to keep his 
own counsel. His singular power of reticence was the despair 
of the "interviewer" and the admiration of his friends. Judge 
William Johnston wrote to him as early as March 17, 1868, when 
he was a comparatively inconspicuous member of Congress: 
"Next to U. S. Grant, you can keep your mouth shut better 
than any man in America, and next to U. S. Grant, I hope to see 
you rise to the place you merit." 

People of all sorts and conditions felt no sense of constraint 
in Mr. Hayes's presence. While he preferred the society of men 
of ideas, he assumed no airs of superiority in meeting persons 
in the humbler walks of life.^ He entered genially and affably 
into their interests, discussed the topics with which they were 
familiar, sought to get their point of view, and drew them out 
to reveal their special store of knowledge. A Scotch-Irish farmer 
of Michigan, of sturdy character, but slow of speech and heavy 
of intellect, never tired of telling of the great occasion when he 
met and talked with President Hayes. "Why," he said to the 
author in culmination of his words of praise, "he was just as 
common as any man I ever met"; meaning that he was just as 
easy to approach; that he had met this farmer on the level of 
their common humanity; that he had not talked down to him, 
but had conversed with him about the things that the farmer 
understood and was interested in. And this was his constant 
mood of mind when he was journeying about the country or 

' The New York Herald, a few weeks after the inauguration, printed a report 
of a conversation with a gentleman described as "an intimate friend" of Mr. 
Hayes. The friend is not named, but the internal evidence justifies the char- 
acterization. This friend said of Mr. Hayes: "He loves children and they love 
him, and he imbends to them, but he has more adaptability than any man I ever 
saw. He seems to be at ease in whatever society he happens to be. He is fond 
of fun in a quiet way and does love a good story. Whenever he says anything 
good himself it is always in a quiet, odd sort of way. I remember when he was 
Governor of Ohio, during his first term, Olive Logan, while on a lecturing tour, 
was arrested in Columbus for not paying the municipal license which the pro- 
prietors of all public entertainments have to pay. She had a license under the 
Internal Revenue Law, and she supposed it covered the whole of the United 
States. Knowing Governor Hayes she called upon him and told him of her 
troubles. He referred her to a law firm and said to her, 'Of course, you will have 
to pay the license. I cannot do anything for you unless you will commit a felony 
and get into the penitentiary. Then I might pardon you out.' The lecturer did 
not avail herself of the Governor's offer." 



416 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

mingling with the people. His intellectual curiosity was insati- 
able.^ A familiar mode he had of greeting acquaintances was, 
"Well, what do you know?" He liked to ride in the day- 
coaches or to take a seat in the smoking-compartment for the 
sake of the opportunities of conversation that these afforded; 
and he never travelled without making acquaintances and so 
adding to his knowledge of men and to his understanding of the 
drift of public opinion. Any pioneer in the conquest of the wilder- 
ness, any man who had had unusual experiences in life, any man 
who had been or was active or interested in political affairs, was 
soon led on to tell the things most notable in his career; and 
scholar, scientist, artisan, or farmer, to discourse on the theme 
of which each had superior knowledge. Mr. Hayes was con- 
stantly recording in his dinTy the names and quahties of his 
chance travelling companions, with some hint of the more signi- 
ficant parts of their conversation. He had unusual power of 
remembering faces and names, even after years recognizmg per- 
sons whom he had only met casually and for a short time.^ His 
notion was that "conversation ought habitually to be frank and 
easy, but earnest and delightful." He liked to hear and to tell 
good stories, provided only that they were clean. His sense of 
humor was alert, both as to situations and as to persons. Solemn 
humbug and pretentious egotism could only provoke his merri- 
ment. 

In all family and domestic relations Mr. Hayes's life was alto- 
gether exemplary. To his widowed mother he was constant in 

1 The friend, quoted in the preceding note, spoke of Mr. Hayes as "a man of 
fair education, but the most persevering, infernal searcher after knowledge I 
think the world ever saw, on anything and everything. Why, one day when I waa 
walking with him he picked up a round, smooth boulder of conglomerate. He 
asked me what it was and how it got to be round. I did not then know that it 
was the attrition of water that had worn it smooth, and he walked me a long 
distance and up three flights of stairs until we found a man that did know." 

2 Miss Laura Ream, a well-known newspaper writer of Indiana in her day, 
gives an instance of this in a letter to the Cincinnati Commercial, dated Wash- 
ington, April 8, 1877: "President Hayes has a remarkable faculty of remember- 
ing people. At his first reception I was presented along with a delegation from 
the sovereign State of Ohio. He said, 'How have you been?' in such a tone of 
recognition that I involuntarily exclaimed, 'You do not remember me.' 'Yes. 
I saw you at the dedication of the chapel of the Soldiers' Home, at Dayton. You 
were with Governor Baker.' I remembered the occasion distinctly. It was seven 
years ago." 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 417 

the ministries of filial affection to the end of her days. Her pride 
in him was unbounded, and she never had fault to find with him 
except that he did not make pubHc avowal of the Christian faith 
and unite himself with some church. He was equally constant 
in his devotion to his uncle, Sardis Birchard, who was practi- 
cally his foster father, and who lavished upon him every care 
and assistance, in his education and in his subsequent career, 
that any father could bestow. Between him and his sister, from 
their earliest years to her untimely death, the most intimate 
bonds of affection and friendship existed, with never a shadow 
of misunderstanding or doubt to cloud the constancy of their 
lovmg relations. She was the confidante of all his hopes and day- 
dreams, of all his thoughts and aspirations. He never had a joy 
but his first wish was that she might share it with him. He in- 
curred no difficulty or disappointment that was not eased by her 
counsel and sympathy. He mourned her loss throughout his life, 
recurring frequently in his diary to her many excellencies of 
heart and mind, to the influence she had had in his develop- 
ment; and recording with pride, long years after her demise, any 
expressions from those who had known her touching her beauty 
of person or character that chance brought to his knowledge. 
To her children he was throughout his life almost like a second 
father in his interest in all that affected their welfare and in the 
tenderness of his regard. 

His marriage brought him abiding content and constant 
felicity. There was perfect union of sentiment and thought, of 
purpose and ambition; that complete understanding and sym- 
pathy and appreciation which keep the mind at ease and give 
it stimulus for its best endeavor. Mrs. Hayes's graces of mind 
and character contributed greatly to his success in public life. 
Her belief in him was a spur to his ambition. Indeed, she was 
perhaps more ambitious for him than he was for himself. It is 
doubtful whether any other American public man ever had from 
his wife more efficacious assistance in his career; not, to be sure, 
in any assertive or obtrusive way, but by reason of the silent 
and subtile forces of her stimulating sympathy and of her un- 
wavering confidence in his abilities and purposes. She was gifted 
with more striking qualities of popularity, with a more magnetic 
personality, than he. No one came into her presence without 



418 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

immediate consciousness of her charm. Political opponents 
and critics of her husband had only words of enthusiastic praise 
when her name was mentioned. It is impossible to estimate 
how great influence her unfailing courtesy and tact and kind- 
ness, through all the WTiite House days, exerted in softening the 
asperities of political contention. Unquestionably true it is that 
this influence was very great. To the end of her life no cloud 
ever obscured the constancy of their mutual love and confidence. 
The passing years only increased their dependence on each 
other. Mr. Hayes had joy and pride in all that his wife was, and 
in all that she did in her church and benevolent activities; and 
he gloried in all the honors and social distinctions that were be- 
stowed upon her. And when Death claimed her he felt that the 
light of his life was extinguished and that his path henceforward 
must be in gloom. 

Mr. Hayes watched and directed the development and educa- 
tion of his children with solicitude and affectionate concern. He 
was never harshly censorious or arbitrary in his methods of 
dealing with them. They were from earliest youth treated as 
reasonable beings, with individual qualities and indi\'idual 
rights, deserving of recognition and respect. When admonition 
was necessary, it was given in gentle, kindly manner, and was 
made to appear not so much as the judgment of parental au- 
thority as the dictate of right and reason. He made himself the 
comrade and companion of his sons in their studies and their 
sports, treating them rather like an older brother or friend, whose 
larger experience of life entitled him to be their guide and coun- 
sellor. So always there existed between father and children 
relations of confidence and equality besides those of paternal 
and filial affection. He was not given to preaching to the chil- 
dren or to moralizing. The force of the daily example of life, 
the spirit of right principles and utter truthfulness and regard 
for all the better things — "the things that are more excellent" 
— which permeated his discourse and governed his conduct, 
were more influential than abstract inculcation of morals. But 
when any specific fault required correction he was prompt to say 
the needed word. In the busy time of the Cincinnati convention 
a letter came to him from one of his sons, who was with the poli- 
ticians at Cincinnati, in which some vulgar characterization of 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 419 

one of the candidates by a delegate was repeated. In spite of 
the press of matters absorbing his attention, Mr. Hayes in- 
stantly wrote his son in reproof, admonishing him never again 
to soil a letter with such a recital. This reproof, under all the 
circumstances, made a deep and lasting impression. To his sons 
when they left home for school or college his parting admoni- 
tion was: "Never do anything or say anything that you would 
be ashamed to confide to your mother." In the frequent letters 
to his sons and daughter in their school and college years, there 
was manifested the same quality of easy companionship and 
equality that was displayed in the home life. Any corrections or 
notations of faults that were offered or suggested were made in 
a half-playful or incidental way that could not wound the pride 
or self-esteem of youth. 

Mr. Hayes had a deep sense of the ties of consanguinity. He 
was the first of his family name and connection to achieve great 
distinction. And yet there were many of his sturdy New Eng- 
land ancestors who had played well their part in life, and there 
were many of his blood among his contemporaries who in pro- 
fessional or business pursuits had risen far above the common 
level. His ancestry and family were no more notable, to be sure, 
than multitudes of others that exemplified the virtues of the 
Puritan discipline and bore their share in subduing the forests 
and winning America to civilization and freedom. But the study 
of origins had a perpetual fascination for him, and he never grew 
weary of searching out the beginnings and vicissitudes, the 
migrations and ramifications of the Hayes and Birchard famiUes. 
He made numerous visits to the localities of their early settle- 
ments in New England; and especially to the Brattleboro coun- 
try in Vermont, whence his father had migrated to Ohio, and 
where many relatives still abode. He pursued his genealogical 
studies also by means of long-continued correspondence, not 
only with his nearer relatives, but wath cousins of remote degree, 
and so accumulated a vast fund of information relating to all 
branches of his widely scattered kinsfolk. He succeeded like- 
wise in obtaining many old family letters, diaries, and other 
documents, and many pieces of ancestral furniture. He became 
similarly interested and alert in tracing the ancestry of Mrs. 
Hayes. And yet, with all his interest and zeal in genealogical 



420 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

inquiry, Mr. Hayes did not attach overmuch importance to the 
matter. He writes of it very sensibly in his diary (March 6, 
1870) : — 

I have been digging into Savage and other books on genealogy during 
the last week. I trace my lineage up almost to the Mayflower, but not 
yet into it. I have only run back on the line of my father's side of the 
house, and the important family of the Smiths is left out; almost one 
half of the stock. To be exact it leaves out exactly one fourth of the 
stock, as I find nearly one half of the Smiths. Now, the new idea I get 
by this study is, how futile it is to trace one's descent from a distin- 
guished name in the past. Two hundred and thirty or forty years ago, 
my ancestors were thirty to a hundred different persons. The Hayes or 
the Rutherford of 1625 was only one out of forty or more who are equally 
my ancestors. What does it signify that John Russell was able and 
pious in 16-tO.'' I am but one part in forty to sixty of his blood. 

We attach more importance to the deeds of ancestors of our own 
names. But this is a mere figment of the imagination. I am just as 
much a Trowbridge, referring now to the Thomas Trowbridge who 
founded the family in New Haven in 1640, as any of those now living 
there who bear his name. The blood, the physical, mental, or moral 
qualities which distinguished an early "father" do not follow the name, 
do not accompany it. I have always thought of myself as Scotch, but 
of the fathers of my family who came to America, about tliirty were 
English and two only, Hayes and Rutherford, were of Scotch descent. 
This is on my father's side. On my mother's side the whole thirty-two 
were probably all of other peoples beside the Scotch. 

Again, I have been proud of my descent (not very, of course, only 
a trifle so) from the famous Rutherfords ; but it is plain that the 
brains, energy, and character possessed by my grandfather's children 
and grandchildren — by the children and grandchildren of Rutherford 
Hayes — are mainly derived from our plain ancestor — who Uncle 
Sardis says was the homeliest woman he ever saw — Grandmother 
Chloe Smith. 

Mr. Hayes was always ready to assist any of bis relatives or 
family connections to the extent of his ability; but he rigidly 
refused while President to appoint any one of them to public 
oflBce, whatever his merits might be. The nepotism of President 
Grant had been so great as to be a scandal, and Mr. Hayes re- 
solved that no favoritism of family should mark his Administra- 
tion. 

There is no better test of a man's character, perhaps, than the 
quality and number of his friendships. ^ In whatever community 

1 Mr. Hayes's notion of friendship is well expressed in a letter, of May 21, 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 421 

Mr. Hayes lived and in whatever relations of life he was placed, 
he sought the companionship of the best and ablest men, and 
the society of pure and noble women. Persons of this sort were 
attracted toward him and became his lifelong friends. It would 
require pages merely to set down the names of men of distinction 
who counted themselves in this group. In the early Cincinnati 
days his friends were such men as Salmon P. Chase, Judge Wil- 
liam Johnston,^ Judge William Dickson, Ainsworth R. Spof- 
ford, Stanley Matthews, John W. Herron, Alphonso Taft, Dr. 
John Davis, Manning F. Force, Moncure D. Conway, and Wil- 
liam Henry Smith. Among men of the army his friends were 
very numerous; General Grant, General Sherman, General 
Sheridan, General Hancock, General Pope, General Crook, 

1890, to Mrs. Herron: "There can be no satisfactory relations between friends 
whose differences are so decided and clean-cut on so many of the vitally inter- 
esting topics. In such cases we cannot keep together if the questions which are 
tabooed are many and interesting. I believe in the friendship which Emerson 
describes in the finest, perhaps, of his essays: 'A friend is a person with whom 
I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. . . . Almost every man we meet 
requires some civility — requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, 
some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, 
and spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises 
not my ingenuity but me. My friend gives me entertainment without requiring 
any stipulation on my part.' . . . ' I am equally balked by antagonism and com- 
pliance.' I threw in that last sentence out of all connection, happening to see 
it, because it seems to me that it hits the only danger in our relations of friend- 
ship." 

1 "I hear to-day of the death of my old friend Judge Johnston, a lawyer un- 
surpassed before a jury; a master of English pure and undefiled, with a knowl- 
edge of human nature rarely equalled, aged eighty-four. Not a successful man 
either in attaining place or accomplishing things for the public. Acquired a 
competency. With wit, logic, eloquence, shrewdness." (Diary, October 17, 
180].) 

"Judge Johnston outlived his contemporaries. His talk was of Charles Ham- 
mond, of Benjamin Tappan, of John C. Wright, Philip Doddridge, Thomas 
Ewing, Henry Stanbery, and the other giants of the bar w^hose example was the 
spur to his young ambition. He was a man of few books, but the few he loved 
were the great books and he had them at his tongue's end. The Bible, Pilgrim's 
Progress, Paradise Lost, and especially Shakespeare were his favorites. He was 
fond of young men. Coming to Cincinnati more than forty years ago, I soon 
became fond of him and learned to prize and enjoy his teaching. During two 
winters, one or two evenings a week at his house with other young men, Shake- 
speare was read carefully under his shrewd and wise criticism. His arguments 
before courts and juries were prepared in the most painstaking way. He used 
to say that no man was fit to be an advocate who could not by his illustrations 
and treatment make the dryest question interesting to the average citizen." 
(Diary, October 23, 1891.) 



422 RUTHERFORD BIRCILVRD HAYES 

General J. D. Cox, General Comly, and many, many others. 
Of these his most devoted friend was doubtless General Comly, 
who succeeded him as colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment. 
He was editor of the Ohio State Journal in the campaign year of 
1876, and during the exciting days, while the electoral dispute 
was in progress, he was for a time in Washington, at President 
Grant's request, to speak from his own knowledge in defining 
Mr. Hayes's attitude. He was a newspaper writer of great force 
and intelligence and a man of the most amiable qualities. ^ 

It is possible to specify only a few of the men in political life 
who were something more than mere political friends. Every 
member of his Cabinet became his personal friend and continued 
to correspond with him in his later years. Mr. Sherman and Mr. 
Schurz were closest to him in sympathy, but all the others were 
loyal in their regard. All the Presidents from Lincoln to Taft 
he knew, and with all from General Grant on he had pleasant 
personal relations, with the possible exception of General Arthur. 
Between him and McKinley feelings of positive affection existed, 
beginning in the days when they marched and fought together 
and growing with the years of McKinley's political advance- 
ment. Mr. Roosevelt had been associated with him in the prison 
reform movement; and Mr. Taft he had known from a boy, 
being present at his marriage with the daughter of his old friends, 
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Herron. 

The men most closely associated with him in the Loyal Legion, 

m the administration of the Peabody and Slater funds, and in 

the prison reform work, all became his personal friends. This 

is evident not only from Mr. Hayes's records in his diary, but 

from the tone of their letters to him. They were seldom of a 

purely business character. It is, indeed, quite remarkable how 

many of Mr. Hayes's friends, more especially, of course, those 

who had known him longest and most intimately, wrote him in 

explicit terms of affection, such as men are chary of addressing 

to one another. It is also worthy of note that none of the men who 

knew him best were in the least surprised at his attainment of 

* He visited New Orleans soon after Mr. Hayes was inaugurated and gave the 
President a long and extremely interesting report, as the result of his observa- 
tion, on the political conditions of Louisiana. Mr. Hayes appointed him Minister 
to Hawaii. On his return to this country he resumed editorial work at Toledo, 
where he died a few years later. 




GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN 

GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT 
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE CROOK MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 423 

the highest honors; or ever had any doubt regarding his merits 
and abilities. 

In the wide circle of his women friends, apart from his rela- 
tives, those whom he found most congenial and sympathetic 
were Mrs. Herron and Mrs. Davis, of Cincinnati, Mrs. L. C. 
Austin (the wife of a kinsman), of Cleveland, and Mrs. A. H. 
Miller, of Fremont. These were all women of unusual grace of 
personality and of superior intellectuality and refinement. 

Of all Mr. Hayes's friendships that of the longest duration 
was the one formed in college days with his classmate, Guy M. 
Bryan, of Texas. It was an instance of the strong attraction of 
opposites. Mr. Hayes was a typical Northerner; Mr. Bryan, 
a typical Southron. Each was intensely loyal to the traditions 
of his section. But each always strove to understand the other's 
point of view and not to allow his judgment to be swayed by 
mere prejudice. Constant correspondence was kept up between 
the two throughout their lives, except during the period of the 
war, when they were fighting for their convictions on opposite 
sides. ^ Soon after the dawn of peace they found each other again 
and renewed their interchange of views. Mr. Bryan, who was 
a Democratic leader in his State, let the Texans know through 
the press his high estimate of Mr. Hayes's character and prin- 
ciples when he was nominated for the Presidency; he thought, 
indeed, it would not be a bad idea for the Democrats to second 
the nomination — he had such confidence in the patriotic pur- 
poses and especially the good intentions of his friend toward the 
South. It is very probable that Mr. Bryan's letters, which were 
full and diffusive, discussing all phases of the Southern question, 
the condition of the two races and their mutual relations, were 
among the influences that determined Mr. Hayes's attitude of 
mind toward all things Southern. Mr. Hayes's letters to Bryan 
were as free and full as to any of his friends; perhaps, indeed, 

1 At Camp Green Meadows, West Virginia, July 18, 1862, Colonel Hayes 
wrote in his diary: "After drill a fine concert of the glee club of Company A. 
As they sang 'That Good Old Word Good-bye ' I thought of the pleasant circle 
that used to sing it on Gulf Prairie, Brazoria Coast, Texas. And now so broken. 
And my classmate and friend, Guy M. Bryan — where is he? In the Rebel 
army! As honorable and true as ever, but a Rebel! What strange and sad things 
this war produces! But he is true and patriotic wherever he is. Success to him 
personally!" 



424 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

more so, because of their early intimacy. Unfortunately only 
a few of them are preserved. Most of them were swept 
away when Galveston was submerged by the waters of the 
Gulf. 

Mr. Hayes's most intimate and most loyal friend, both per- 
sonal and political, was William Henry Smith. Mr. Smith was 
born in New York, but had lived in Ohio from infancy, and felt 
himself to be an Ohio man in every fibre of his being. There was 
pride in the very tone with which he uttered the name of the 
State, and any person who professed to be an Ohioan at once 
commanded his interest. He was a man of large intellectual 
powers and sympathies and of very wide reading. The extent 
and particularity of his knowledge of American history and 
politics were a constant marvel to his friends. He always found 
time for his books and for literary work, however exacting and 
absorbing his business cares might be. With his keermess of 
intellect, his alertness in action, his tireless industry, he was 
generous and charitable in deed and word, and kept unstained 
the integrity of his soul. In friendship his name was a synonym 
of loyalty and devotion. He was making his mark as a young 
newspaper writer at Cincinnati in the years just before the war, 
when he was an ardent supporter of the new Republican party. 
Similar political principles and similar ideals of life brought him 
and Mr. Hayes together. They learned each other's qualities 
and they became friends for life. Mr. Smith was twice elected 
Secretary of State of Ohio. Then he became general agent of the 
Western Associated Press, with offices at Chicago; and, some 
years later, general manager of the combined Associated Press of 
the country, with headquarters at New York, doing more than 
any other man to make that organization the greatest news- 
collecting and distributing agency in the world. He had unusual 
aptitude for political effort; almost instinctive apprehension of 
political forces, and wonderful skill and tact in influencing their 
direction. It was he who first set people of Cincinnati to think- 
ing of Hayes, fighting away in the Shenandoah Valley, for Con- 
gress ; and three years later it was he who made the first sugges- 
tion of his candidacy for Governor. In the months preceding 
the national Republican convention of 1876, he did more than 
any one else, outside of Ohio, to prepare the way for Mr. Hayes's 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 425 

nomination for the Presidency. During the period of doubt after 
the election he was steadily engaged in helpful efforts to reassure 
Southern Democrats of Mr. Hayes's pacific intentions. All 
through his term as President, Mr. Hayes often consulted him 
about men and measures, and always placed great reliance on 
his judgment and advice. Mr. Hayes appointed him Collector 
of the Port at Chicago, in which capacity he instituted many 
reforms in the revenue service. In all Mr. Hayes's later years, 
he was a frequent visitor at Spiegel Grove. The correspondence 
between the two was voluminous and characterized on both 
sides with the utmost frankness. Never did a false statement 
about Mr. Hayes appear in the public prints that Mr. Smith was 
not quick to resent it and to seek its correction. It is difficult 
to recall any friendship between two American pubHc men, 
both of strong and positive nature, more unselfish, more con- 
stant, of longer duration, and marked w4th greater mtimacy 
and affection, than that between these two men. It speaks 
goldenly for the high and fine qualities of both men.^ 

IMr. Hayes was not a great orator. He lacked the ardent 
temperament, the glow of imagination, the easy command of a 
rich and varied vocabulary, the pecuhar sensitiveness to the 

^ Letters and diary contain frequent references to Mr. Hayes's esteem for 
Mr. Smith. Shortly after the return to Spiegel Grove we have this letter: — 

Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio, 
29 March, 1881. 

My dear S., — I step out of the dust and confusion of getting into orderly 
living after our six years' absence, to ask, "Are you happy?" and "Do you know 
anything.' " With us time passes swiftly and pleasantly. The escape from bond- 
age into freedom is grateful, indeed, to my feelings. The equanimity of temper 
which has enabled me to bear without discomposure the vexations and anxieties 
that every day brought with it, during my term of ofBce, no doubt relieved me 
from a great part of the strain upon the faculties which has broken down so 
many of my predecessors. But the burden, even with my constitutional cheer- 
fulness, has not been a light one. I am glad to be a freed man. Now a word to 
you. My obligations to you I do not attempt to measure or to describe! You 
were at the cradle, and you have followed the hearse " of this ambitious life." 
I know that to you it has not brought the reward or the satisfaction which you 
deserved to have. No man ever had a more sincere, a more judicious, and a 
more unselfish friend than in this matter I have found in you. You have been 
generous, considerate, and forgiving. With all my heart I thank you, and beg 
you to believe me vour friend ever. — Sincerely, 

R. B. Hayes. 

William Henry Smith, 
Chicago, III. 



426 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

feelings and emotions of the auditors, which the great orator 
must possess. He was, however, an admirable public speaker 
— one who never failed to interest and to hold the attention of 
his hearers, whatever the occasion or the topic of his discourse; 
and he was an especially effective campaign speaker. His dig- 
nity of manner and appearance and his agreeable voice at once 
created a favorable impression. In his political speeches he 
appealed to the reason and judgment of his hearers rather than 
to their passions and partisan prejudices. It was as though he 
said to his auditors, "Come, let us reason together." Then in a 
familiar manner and in simple language he would lay the ground- 
work of fact and principles pertinent to the topic of the hour, and 
on this, in logical sequence, he would erect the superstructure of 
his argument. His controlling purpose was not to stir men's 
hearts, but by the calm presentation of facts, by the lucid ex- 
position of principles, and by the orderly array of conclusions 
that he believed flowed necessarily from these premises, to con- 
vince their minds and bring them to his way of thinking. How- 
ever vigorously he assailed the position and programme of the 
opposite party or criticized the political record and principles 
of the opposing candidate, he carefully avoided personalities or 
the aspersion of motives and purposes; and he never allowed 
himself to be influenced by a consideration of the religious opin- 
ions of candidates. He agreed with Burke that politics and the 
pulpit should be kept apart. Wliile many of his public addresses 
were written out beforehand with great care, and ample prep- 
aration was made for all, the most of his campaign speeches 
and of his speeches on patriotic occasions, at old soldier gather- 
ings, and the like, were ex tempore in their language. Not in- 
frequently these were lightened with incidents or anecdotes or 
humorous allusions to illustrate some principle or to drive home 
an argument. The written speeches, like all Mr. Hayes's writ- 
ings, are admirable for the clearness and precision with which 
the thoughts are expressed, and for the skill and order w ith 
which the arguments are marshalled. It was these things for 
which Mr. Hayes specially strove. He admired the indefinable 
graces of style which like an atmosphere pervade the writings 
of the masters of expression; but he himself never made great 
effort to attain unto them. He wrote with facility and with 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 427 

correctness and propriety;^ and there is never any misunder- 
standing of his meaning. His style, however, is devoid of 
particular distinction, and phrases of marked fehcity flowed 
infrequently from his pen. 

Mr. Hayes was an excellent presiding officer at any sort of 
public gathering, board meeting, entertainment, or banquet. 
He maintained control with ease, was quick to allay friction and 
to quiet contention, and was skilful in keeping the business in 
hand moving forward and in the right direction. Wordy disputes 
and irrelevant discussions he knew how to check with gentle 
firmness, and embarrassing incidents that might easily provoke 
bitterness and controversy he could with a few words of kindly 
deprecation or appeal smooth away or make to appear insigni- 
ficant. He had a happy way of introducing a speaker so as to 
give him a sense of confidence and to win for him the instant 
attention of the assemblage. 

One of the most striking qualities of Mr. Hayes's character 
was his attitude toward criticism, misrepresentation, and malig- 
nant detraction. He respected honest difference of opinion and 
was grateful for legitimate criticism.- If at any time he was con- 
vinced thereby that he had been at fault or had failed to take 
proper action, no pride of opinion or dread of being charged with 
inconsistency or vacillation prevented him from making due 
reparation. He was, however, so well assured in mind of the 
wisdom and correctness of all the great policies of his Adminis- 
tration that he refused to permit the censorious clamor of dis- 
approving Republicans, or the aspersions and denunciations of 
Democratic defamers, to shake his purposes or to disturb his 
equanimity. He kept on the way his judgment and conscience 

* The purist will find some faults to criticize. For example, like most Ameri- 
cans west of the AUeghanies and in the South, Mr. Hayes frequently used will 
and would when shall and should ought to have been written, and he now and 
then "split" his infinitives. 

^ "Touching my birthday, I was never on the whole happier than I am now. 
My health, and that of my wife also, is very good. Our elevation has not, I am 
sure, turned our heads. The abuse of us, and the honest but severe criticism do 
not sour us. I try to judge fairly as to what is said, and 'to improve' all just 
criticism. My Administration is no doubt stronger than ever before. The appeal 
to the people on grounds of a non-partisan character has been successful. I must 
in the future be more and more careful to do only what is wise and right." 
(Diary, October 5, 1878.) 



428 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

approved with "amiable obstinacy," to use a phrase often ap- 
plied to his manner; the quality Emerson speaks of in his "Self- 
Reliance" as "good-humored inflexibility." He refrained per- 
sistently, both while President and during all his later years, 
from making any public defense of his official acts,i however 
fiercely they were attacked, or any apology for the policies he 
sought to enforce, or any correction of the flood of misrepre- 
sentations and positive untruths — often of a pettiness and 
meanness beyond conception — which conscienceless news- 
paper maligners continued to pour forth. He knew that the 
motives which controlled his action were pure and patriotic and 
unselfish, and he believed that the courses he pursued were 
sound and wise. He was entirely willing to leave his acts to 
speak for themselves and to trust to the judgment of the future 
for their justification and proper appreciation. "The loud vocif- 
erations" of the time, therefore, he ignored; and through storms 
of unmerited execration and obloquy, of which there has been 
no parallel in all the many instances of disgraceful license and 
intemperance of the American press, he refused to be shaken 
from his determination to preserve silence. With unyielding 
confidence in the final prevalence of truth, he 

"Stood serene and down the future saw the golden beam incline 
To the side of perfect justice." 

There was practical good sense in this determination. It was 
useless to deny falsehoods. Their authors would go on repeating 
them or would invent others. And it was a hopeless task to 
correct misrepresentations. Moreover, if correction or denial 
were made in any particular case, it would be assumed by the 
public that all falsehoods and misrepresentations that were not 
directly corrected or denied were truthful statements. It was 
better, therefore, to keep out of print and pay no heed to any 

* This had been his habit likewise in regard to attacks on his conduct as 
Governor. In writing to the Honorable John F. McKinney, Piqua, Ohio, about 
some article in the Democrat of that town, on June 5, 1871, he said: "I do not 
wish this letter published, but you may show it to the editor of the Democrat, if 
you wish. I always prefer that the justification of my official acts should stand 
on the official records, and not on my arguments in their defense. If a public 
man makes an honest mistake, it is safe to leave it with an intelligent public, 
who will be ready to appreciate the whole affair much better if lie docs not make 
too much fuss about it." 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 429 

false publications. That was Mr. Hayes's reasoning about the 
matter.^ To inquiries addressed to him concerning evil allega- 
tions against himself, he would reply giving the truth in the 
case, but always with the injunction that his letter was not to 
be made public; and in a few instances he wrote to friendly 
editors or writers of articles in the press who had innocently 
been misled by false reports, in order to set them right, insisting 
always, however, that he was not to be quoted. ^ He thought it 
altogether creditable to him that politicians of a certain type ^ 
and that newspapers like the New York Su7i spoke ill of him."* 
He would have felt that he was doomed to the woe pronounced 
by the Divine Master had they spoken well of him. How he 

^ Writing, May 26, 1885, to a Buffalo editor who had asked him what the 
truth was in regard to some current calumny, Mr. Hayes, after giving the facts, 
said: "As to the use of my name or authority, I do not deny or explain untruths 
about me. The reason is obvious. If I did, the failure to deny in any case would 
be an admission in that case of its truth, and I would be kept busy making de- 
nials. I give you the facts and refer you to General Buckland of this town. You 
will, therefore, deal with the matter without quoting me as authority and thereby 
oblige." 

2 "I do not notice, nor care for the abuse of the partisan and factional 
newspapers. A cipher ally or an ultra Stalwart organ may fling squibs at me and 
I give them no attention — not a second thought. It is according to the logic 
of the situation. But when I saw yesterday in the Christian Union the fling, 
* Great Britain has an income of $400,000,000, and yet Queen Victoria is as poor 
as Mr. Hayes,' I was vexed and felt like calling the attention of the editor, 
LjTuan Abbott, to it. The squib is based on the malicious falsehood that I re- 
fused on the score of poverty to make a subscription to the fund for the Garfield 
Monument. The slander was exploded the day after it was published, and 
everybody knows that in fact a suitable subscription — $250 — was made cheer- 
fully, and without demur on the ground of lack of means or otherwise. Perhaps 
I will write to my friend and kinsman in New York, Charles L. Mead, and ask 
him to give the facts to Mr. Lyman [Abbott]." (Diary, January 23, 1882.) 

^ "If there are any two men in the country whose opposition and hatred are 
a certificate of good character and sound statesmanship, they are Conkling and 
Butler. I enjoy the satisfaction of being fully endorsed by the hatred and op- 
position of both of these men." (Diary, January 16, 1881.) 

* "I am still honored with the hatred and persistent attacks of the New York 
Sun, the Philadelphia Times, H. J. Ransdell, and a small number of followers 
in various parts of the country. A few are Democrats. More of them are malig- 
nant Stalwarts. Their course proves that a good deal was done during my Ad- 
ministration which was worthy of admiration. I am at a loss to say what act 
gives me most claim on their attention. With some it is temperance at the White 
House, with some it is fair and wise dealing with the South, and with more it is 
my blows at the patronage of the bosses. Mr. Lincoln is reported to have said 
of certain assaults on himself, ' It seems to be a comfort to them and does n't 
hurt me.'" (Diary, October 23, 1881.) 



430 RUTHERFORD BIRCH.\RD HAYES 

regarded their attacks is shown by a letter of February 2, 1882, 
to his old Texan friend, Guy M. Bryan, who was troubled at 
their continuance. Mr. Hayes wrote : — 

I am ratlier gratified by the criticisms you allude to. They call atten- 
tion to what must, I think, be written down a very fortunate and suc- 
cessful Administration. It found our financial affairs in wretched con- 
dition — with a plan of relief in every mouth, and predictions of failure 
and ruin if the Administration followed the course to which it was 
pledged. In the face of opposition and unpopularity rarely equalled, it 
adhered to its own line of policy and left the finances of our Government 
the wonder and envy of all the world. 

It found laborers out of work, uneasy, in want, and riotous, and it 
left them fully employed at good wages, and contented, hopeful, and 
happy. 

It found the sectional and race bitterness dangerous and increasing, 
and it left it with the people of all sections and races more harmonious 
and united than ever before. 

More than all, these results were reached by measures and a policy 
which were strenuously opposed in whole or in part by most of the 
powerful leaders of both political parties. 

By the reformation in the great offices in New York, the spoils sys- 
tem was uprooted where it was strongest, and a demonstration afforded 
to the American people that a non-partisan civil service on business 
principles is entirely practicable. 

I am pursued personally by the organs of two factions — each a mi- 
nority faction — in the opposing parties. The ultra supporters of Tilden 
for next President, in order to keep alive "the fraud issue" for his bene- 
fit, let no chance for calumny go unimproved. But the better brethren 
of the Democratic party have no hand in this. They follow Hancock, 
Bayard, Pendleton, McDonald, Lamar, Stephens, Hampton, Gordon, 
Gibson, Bailey, Colquitt, etc., etc. In my own party the organs of the 
ultra Stalwarts — Butler, Conkling, etc., etc., etc., — are, if possible, 
still more bitter. The death of Garfield turns their batteries on me. 
The blows which he would receive, if living, I now get. But it docs not 
injure me or my Administration. A mere nothing — a King Log — 
a dead level, never attracts so much attention. Hence the satisfaction 
I find in this stream of obloquy. It means that their political system — 
the spoils system and boss system united into one — has been sorely 
wounded. "But sometliing too much of this." 

It is, however, a vast discredit to American popular intelli- 
gence that the trivial and senseless maundering of the Sun and 
its imitators of the press, about the chickens at Spiegel Grove, 

— kept up for years, until a veritable mythology was created, 

— should have made any impression on the public mind. In 



^^1 

I'i 
iJ 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 431 

its Insane hatred the Sun sought to make it appear that the 
principal occupation of the man, who, since leaving the White 
House, was giving all his time and energy to the disinterested 
furtherance of the worthiest causes, was chicken-raising. The 
persistency with which it paraded its malignant fabrications on 
this score, aided by the silly patter of shallow newspaper para- 
graphers, did have its effect on the public mind, constantly 
assailed as it was by the "damnable iteration." Even to this 
day the effect has not entirely disappeared. An eminent and 
worthy Republican leader, who had been the candidate for 
Governor of one of the greatest States of the Union, amazed 
the author, as he was about to begin the wTiting of this chapter, 
with a humiliating confession of his acceptance of the base and 
baseless fiction of the Sun. Mr. Hayes himseff treated the whole 
incident, like everything emanating from the same source, with 
good-natured and contemptuous disregard. 

On the other hand, he was gratified when friendly words were 
said of him,^ and he was greatly pleased in the last years of his 
life to feel assured that the current of popular recognition was 
turning more strongly in his favor; that the efforts of his de- 
tractors were for the most part growing feebler and being met 

1 "In Captain John G. Bourke's new book, On the Border with Crook, under 
date of June 23, 1876, page 321, he tells how Lieutenant Schuyler, Fifth Cavah-y, 
made the trip out to Crook from Fort Fetterman in foiu- days to Crook's com- 
mand with two couriers who brought the mail with news, among other facts of 
interest, 'That Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, had been nominated by the Re- 
publicans for the Presidency. General Hayes had commanded a brigade under 
Crook in the Army of West Virginia during the War of the Rebellion. Crook 
spoke of his former subordinate in the warmest and most affectionate manner, 
instancing several battles in which Hayes had displayed exceptional courage and 
proved himself to be, to use Crook's words, "as brave a man as ever wore a 
shoulderstrap. " ' 

"I very early in my political career learned to estimate at its true value the 
censure, abuse, and ridicule which follow all men who are prominent in public 
life. It is so common, so destitute of truth, and so meaningless, so far from the 
true opinions and feelings of those who utter it, that it ought not to seriously 
affect those upon whom it is poured out. This I saw and appreciated and I soon 
found philosophy enough in my composition in a great measure to disregard it. 
Indeed, I suppose few public men ever regard such abuse with less feeling than I 
do. At the same time I must confess that flattery, good words from the right 
quarter, 'Aaron's beard,' as Lucy habitually called it, is as sweet to me as to 
others. Especially is this so if I fancy it is deserved, is warranted by truth, and 
if it comes from a man of so few words, so ungushing as Crook was." (Diary, 
October 28, 1891.) 



432 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

with wnder and more vigorous counteraction. The popular 
demonstrations which greeted his appearance on every pubhc 
occasion that he honored with his presence m the last months of 
his life touched his heart with deep and grateful emotion. Time 
was already setting things right and he was coming to his own. 
There is abundant evidence in the diary ^ of the gratification he 
felt at the change in public sentiment; and the Reverend F. H, 
Wines, in the address from which quotation was made in the 
preceding chapter, gives testimony to the same effect. He 
uses this language: — 

Not even to his own children would he utter a word in his own de- 
fense. He died and he made no sign. And yet I know that he was not 
indifferent to public opinion nor insensible to neglect. At one of our 
meetings he was invited to a camp-fire, where he alluded to the recent 
loss of his wife and to her virtues in a way which melted all who heard 
liim to tears. Some one who heard liim speak on that occasion said en- 
thusiastically that he meant to vote for Hayes at every election there- 
after as long as they both lived. The next morning at breakfast I 
quoted this friendly outburst to the President; and turning his head in 
a way peculiar to himself, but wluch you must all remember, he said, 
in a low tone, full of pathos, and in a hesitating manner, "I think — the 
tide is beginning to turn — a little — in my favor. " 

Mr. Hayes maintained throughout life his early love of books 
and reading. In his later years he read all that he could lay his 
hands on relating to the reform work and the phases of educa- 
tion in which he was most interested; and the books and maga- 
zine articles discussing the new social questions that were com- 
ing into prominence. 2 His particular field of study was American 
history and biography, and he was especially interested in every- 
thing that threw light on the settlement and progress of Ohio. 
It was his interest in these subjects that led him to purchase, 
in the early seventies, the collection of Americana made by 
Robert Clarke, the well-known publisher of Cincinnati. This 

1 For example: "An abundance of friendly comment comes to me these days. 
The stream of abuse has gone by. The reaction is coming. The pendulum seems 
to swing to the other extreme. Lucy was more hurt by calumny than I ever was. 
She cared no more for praise, perhaps less, than I do; but slander gave her far 
more pain. I was confident always that in ten years or more the judgment of our 
acts and character would be more friendly." (Diary, January 5, 1892.) 

2 He spoke of himself, in a letter of 1890, as "a radical in thought and prin- 
ciple — a conservative in method and action," borrowing the sentiment and 
language from some source that he did not recall. 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 433 

contains some six thousand volumes and is rich in books of 
pioneer history, exploration, and early travels, biographies, and 
genealogical lore. In general literature Mr. Hayes's tastes 
were wide and catholic. During his life he gathered about him 
the English and American classics, and translations of the 
masterpieces of other tongues, to the number of several thou- 
sand volumes; and to these he constantly returned for joy and 
refreshment. He read sparingly and only the best of the more 
recent writers of his day. Of these Howells, who was a close 
friend, pleased him most. In the very last year of his life he 
resolved to pursue the Chautauqua course of reading, the com- 
pletion of which would require years; and set apart regular 
hours to the undertaking whenever he was at home.^ His favorite 
prose writers to the last were Emerson, Hawi:horne, Lincoln, 
and Scott; the poets who gave him most pleasure in his later 
years were Byron, Browning, and Edwin Arnold. Emerson 
stood foremost of all authors in his affection, and to him he went 
most frequently for spiritual encouragement and cheer. Mrs. 
Herron, with two of her daughters, spent some weeks at Spiegel 
Grove soon after Mrs. Hayes's death. During this visit Mr. 
Hayes and Mrs. Herron read much together, and after her re- 
turn home they entered on a course of reading of Emerson, com- 
paring in letters to each other their impressions of various essays 
and their estimate of Emerson's distinctive message to the 
world. The main ends in view in such reading, he thought, were 
"mental improvement — for information — to keep the facul- 
ties alert and alive"; and, more important still, preparation 
"for the inevitable, to be content at least for the time and also 
in view of the future"; in a word, "to develop and strengthen 
character." The end most essential was the last — "to be really 
fit for the present and ready for the future." And what author 
offered more to this purpose than Emerson? "He deals, as I 
think, wisely with the deep questions, with God, the soul, our 
present and our future well-being." "'Rest and content,' and 
to be 'lifted above trifles ' — is not this all that is best in religion, 

^ "At the close of my seventieth year I join the Chautauqua class of 1896 
— not at all confident that I shall live to complete it, but wth two notions in 
my thinking about it. It may be useful as an example to others. Let education 
continue to the end of life. I find I gain by practice in writing the remarks and 
speeches I am constantly making." (Diary, September 4, 1892.) 



434 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

whether natural or supernatural?" "How Emerson prepares 
one to meet the disappointments and griefs of this mortal Hfe! 
His writings, with me, seem to be religion. They bring peace, 
consolation; that rest for the mind and heart which we all long 
for — content." These quotations are taken from different 
letters to Mrs. Herron. One letter (December 5, 1889) may be 
given almost in full: — ■ 

Your letter on the essay of Emerson was to the point and set me to 
reading. Having given to "Immortality" a second hearing, I was ready 
to reply. But alas ! all sorts of claims came down on me. I spent Thanks- 
giving at Birchard's. While there I got hold of Edwin Arnold's "Light 
of Asia." Instantly I was switched off into Buddliism. I read all of the 
notes. Some touched on our question. I was greatly attracted. Now 
I am mixed. But I must begin. 

There is nothing consecutive in Emerson. He is often obscure. 
Sometimes, perhaps, — precious confession, — unmeaning. He will 
not change our faith; he will not lead us to any faith. But I insist that 
we shall be more and more content with God, with the future, with this 
whole bow-wow. We shall have more charity for others' errors. We 
shall have fewer errors of our own. Therefore let us read him. 

I have gone next to "Inspiration." But you will ask me. Are you 
done with immortality? Yes, for now. We can return to it. What are 
the results so far? I am sure you have them all. There is no assurance 
of the great fact in question. All the arguments are mere probabilities, 
analogies, fancies, whims. We believe or disbelieve, or are in doubt, 
according to our make-up, to accidents, to education, to environment. 
For myself I do not reach either faith or belief in the fact in its true 
sense, namely, that I — the conscious person talking to you — will 
meet you in the world beyond; you being yourself a conscious person — 
the same person now reading what I say. 

Do you ask. What have we gained? Not much, I admit. But it is 
something to know, that, with the best mind of our time and race, we 
do not know. I confess that I have "a longing after immortality," in 
the ordinary sense of the word. But I am far more content with what- 
ever may come since I have read Emerson's calm, quiet, self-satisfied 
way of dealing with the deepest questions. It is something to trust God. 

Now shall we try " Inspiration"? You sit at the helm. Choose as you 
are inclined. I will insist that the more we read of Emerson, the better 
we will like him — the wiser we will be — the better we will find our- 
selves; and by consequence (if anything is consequence) the happier. 
Which is one of the aims; the chief aim being to become better, to get 
character.* 

^ The following comment on Lowell in contrast with Emerson is interest- 
ing: "I have been reading Lowell's prose. Pungent, witty, sound; too fond of 






PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 435 

And Mr. Hayes did trust God. He came of a long line of 
godly ancestors. His mother, who was a faithful member of the 
Presbyterian Church, was a woman of fervent piety, who saw 
in every event of life, public or private, either evidence of God's 
favor or a judgment of Divine wrath on the mckedness of men. 
He was nurtured in the fear and admonition of the Lord. His 
college teachers at Kenyon were Christian gentlemen of the 
Episcopal Church, and the life of the college and the college 
town was permeated with the Christian spirit. Mr. Hayes was 
conversant with the Bible from early youth and accepted the 
fundamental principles of religion which it inculcates and en- 
forces. He was throughout life a regular churchgoer, never 
failing to attend Sunday service unless some imperative neces- 
sity intervened; always after his marriage going to the Methodist 
Church, of which Mrs. Hayes was a communicant, and giving 
it liberal support. While he felt himself to be a Christian in all 
essential respects, he never united with any church. There were 
declarations of belief in the orthodox creeds that he could not 
conscientiously make. But he had no doubt of the Divme gov- 
ernance of the world; no doubt of the overruling of a wise and 
beneficent Providence in the affairs of mankind; no doubt that 
each individual was in some sort, according to his place and sta- 
tion in life, an instrument in carrying forward the eternal pur- 
poses, and so should have an abiding sense of his obligation to 
live "as ever in his great Taskmaster's eye." Repeatedly in 
ofiicial documents, in public addresses,^ in letters, and in his 

classical and other learned allusions; retains in form the old faiths, and is al- 
ways interesting. Not lofty nor inspired like Emerson; not satisfying; does not 
leave one resting and contented; but still one of the better brethren." (From 
letter (February 8, 1892) to Mrs. Herron.) 

^ For example, at Weirs, New Hampshire, August 22, 1877, replying to the 
address which welcomed him and his party to the camp-meeting there in prog- 
ress, he said: "I wish to assure you that this kind welcome gives me very great 
gratification. We do not, I am sure, mistake its meaning. You are interested 
in me and those with me because of the great trust which, under the Constitu- 
tion and laws, has devolved upon us. You believe with Lincoln that in the per- 
formance of his duties the only safe reliance for your Chief Magistrate is that 
Divine assistance without which he cannot succeed and with which he cannot 
fail. My earnest desire is, my prayer is, that in every diflScult and grave emer- 
gency I may be so guided that all good citizens can approve the measures that 
may be adopted, and that all may conscientiously pray for their complete suc- 
cess." 



436 RUTHERFORD BIRCILVRD HAYES 

diary he gave expression to his sense of dependence on the 
Divine favor. These various expressions have the tone of utter 
sincerity, never striking one as forced or conventional phrases. 
In his inaugural address on first becoming Governor of Ohio, 
he expressed the hope that all might be done under the guidance 
of Providence. In his letter of acceptance of the Presidential 
nomination, in his inaugural address, and in every one of his 
annual messages to Congress, he expressed "devout gratitude 
to the Giver of all good," or invoked "the guidance of that 
Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals 
are shaped." 

The Reverend Washington Gladden said, in the discourse 
from which quotation has already been made: — 

I do not know that he formulated for himself any creed; he was con- 
tent, probably, with a very short statement of some of the fundamental 
truths of religion. He was profoundly interested in the truth which 
constitutes the heart of all faiths. . . . He asked me, not long ago, if I 
knew a certain minister of our communion. I replied that I had known 
him from his seminary days. "Well," he said, "I heard him preach 
last Sunday at Brattleboro, Vermont. You know," he added, with a 
humorous twinkle, "we always think that a man who agrees with us 
is an able man. But the text of this sermon was a striking one: 'The 
second is like unto it.' That was all there was of the text; but it was 
enough, I assure you, to furnish the foundation of a very strong dis- 
course." 

I could easily believe it. "The second is like unto it" — equal to it. 
It is what our Master says about the second great commandment of 
the law. The first great commandment is "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart"; the second is like unto it — equally bind- 
ing, equally fundamental, equally religious — "Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself." The fact that had made its impression upon the 
President's mind was the equivalence of these commandments. That 
indicated his hearty recognition of both of them. But I suppose if he 
had been challenged to confess his faith, it would have been uttered in 
the words of the beloved apostle, "He that loveth not his brother whom 
he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" And if the 
word of that apostle is true — that "every one who loveth is begotten 
of God and knoweth God" — then the unselfish ministry of the last 
ten years would prove that the first great commandment was also the 
law of his life. 

* 

In a letter to his cousin, ]\Irs. INIary M. Fitch, the wife of a 
missionary at Shanghai, a few months before his death, Mr. 



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 437 

Hayes did come near defining his creed: "The teachings of 
Christ, meaning his words as interpreted by Himself in his life 
and deeds, are in truth the way of salvation. Wishing and striv- 
ing to do this [to accept Christ's teachings as just defined] I 
know I am safe." ^ Moreover, in his diary (May 17, 1890), we 
have this confession: "I am not a subscriber to any creed. I 
belong to no church. But in a sense satisfactory to myself and 
believed by me to be important, I try to be a Christian, or 
rather I want to be a Christian and to help do Christian work." 

And finally, on the very Sunday before the fatal seizure fell 
upon him, we have this declaration: "I am a Christian, ac- 
cording to my conscience, in belief, not, of course, in character 
and conduct, but in purpose and wish; not, of course, by the 
orthodox standard. But I am content and have a feeling of 
trust and safety." 

These words of assurance and the sentence of aspiration 
written the following morning, "Let me be pure and wise and 
kind and true m all things," — the last significant entries in the 
diary, — are very noble revelations of his inmost life, of its at- 
titude toward the eternal mystery, of its desire for the supreme 
excellencies of character, for a man to leave behind as his last 
utterances on the issues of life and death. They reflect the spirit 
which throughout his life, of unusually varied activities and of 
many and grave responsibilities, Rutherford B. Hayes had 
wished to inform his conscience and to control his conduct. 

The longer the writer has busied himself with the career of 
Mr. Hayes, the more intimately he has studied and felt the in- 
fluence of his serene, lofty, and well-rounded character, the 
worthier they seem to him of admiration and emulation. Mr. 
Hayes seems to him to have been an American of the finest type; 
in the quality of his ancestry, in his home surroundings and early 

^ Mr. Hayes was much impressed by the closing declaration of Charles 
Dickens's will: "I commit my soul to the mercy of God through our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, and I exhort my dear children humbly to try to guide 
themselves by the teachings of the New Testament in its broad spirit, and to 
put no faith in any man's narrow construction of its letter here or there." These 
words, he wrote in his diary (March 13, 1892), expressed his own sentiment, and 
he commended them to his children, along with Dean Stanley's lofty and broad- 
minded Dickens funeral sermon. 



438 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 

influences, in his education, in his dehberate self-disciphne and 
constant striving to estabhsh and ennoble his character; in his 
patriotism and high courage, ahke on the battlefield and as Chief 
Magistrate; in the readiness and thoroughness with which he 
accepted and performed whatever tasks were laid upon him; in 
his devotion to duty and his public spirit and philanthropy; in 
his modesty and dignity of demeanor; in the sobriety and mod- 
eration of his life; in the simplicity and beauty of his domestic 
relations and his friendships; in his ardor for the highest and best 
outgivings of the human spirit; in his acknowledgment of, and 
sense of dependence upon, an overruling and guiding Provi- 
dence; in his practical exemplification in all the relations of life 
of the Christian virtues. Of him, if of any one, it can be said : — 

"He was a verray perfight gentil knight." 



THE END 



M{ 



I 



t 



APPENDIX 



I 



i 






APPENDIX 

SPIEGEL GROVE 

LUCY ELLIOT KEELER 

Spiegel Grove, the homestead of President Hayes, the beautiful 
twenty-five acre grove of native American trees, is a portion of the his- 
toric site of the free cities of the Neutral Nation of the Eries, who three 
centuries ago built two fortified towns on opposite sides of the Sandusky 
River at its lower falls. The site of these towns was on the great nat- 
ural runway used by the earliest recorded Indians and their allies, the 
French explorers and missionaries, in passing from the St. Lawrence 
and the Great Lakes to the Ohio and Mississippi. This "Old French 
and Indian Trail," later called "the Harrison Trail of the War of 
1812," was along the western bank of the Sandusky-Scioto Waterway 
from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. It extended for over half a mile 
through Spiegel Grove. 

The house at Spiegel Grove was begun by Sardis Birchard in 1859 
for the permanent home of his nephew and ward, Rutherford B. 
Hayes. Owing to his services in the army, in Congress, and as Gov- 
ernor of Ohio, Mr. Hayes did not occupy it till 1873. ]Vtr. Birchard 
himself lived there until that time, enjoying frequent visits from his 
nephew and from the latter 's wife and young children. 

The original house was a brick structure, two and a half stories high, 
surrounded on three sides by a verandah; but in 1880, preparatory to 
his return from the White House, President Hayes built a substantial 
addition on the north, duplicating the original gabled brick front of the 
house, and materially remodelling the interior. In 1889 further exten- 
sive changes were made, at which time the present large dining-room, 
kitchens, and several upper chambers were added. This date remains 
memorable in the family because, before the alterations were finished, 
the beautiful mistress of the house, who had looked forward eagerly to 
the larger opportunities for hospitality, was stricken and died. 

Two rooms of the original house remain intact, the Red Parlor on the 
first floor, and the Birchard Room directly above it, which had been Mr, 
Birchard's bedchamber. The house has high ceilings, spacious rooms 
with hardwood floors, and many open fireplaces. A verandah eighty 
feet long and fourteen feet wide, so arranged as to make thirty-three 
laps to the mile, extends in front of the whole house. From the centre 



442 



APPENDIX 



of the large entrance hall one can look up four stories to the observatory, 
the upper halls forming balconies opposite the stairways. To the left 
of the front door as you enter hangs the portrait of Sardis Birchard, to 
the right, that of his sister, Sophia Birchard Hayes, the mother of the 
President. The two archways opening from the hall are draped with 
the regimental flags of Colonel Webb C. Hayes in the war with Spain 
and in the Philippine insurrection, taking the place long filled by his 
father's regimental flags of forty years earlier, which are now carefully 
preserved in glass cases. On the third archway hang the "grandfathers' 
guns" of the War of 1812, being the old flintlocks used by Rutherford 
Hayes, of Vermont, and James Webb, of Kentucky. Beneath these, 
glass cases contain the side-arms used by General Hayes during the 
War for the Union; and those used by Colonel Hayes in the war with 
Spain, in the Philippines, and in China. A silver plate, presented to Mrs. 
Hayes by the soldiers of the Twenty-third Regiment, O.V.I. , on the 
occasion of the silver wedding celebration at the White House, hangs by 
the parlor entrance. It is engraved with a design of the log cabin in 
which Mrs. Hayes Uved with her husband for two winters in camp in 
Virginia, and with verses inscribed to "Our Mother." The large front 
hallway is further furnished with an old-fashioned fireplace, and a 
handsome dark, carved Chinese settle. 

The drawing-room, opening to the right of the hall, is thirty-six feet 
long and is connected by an open archway with a library of the same 
length, where for many years was stored the fine historical library of 
President Hayes. This room preserves an atmosphere of homehke- 
ness and comfort and is indicative of the well-rounded character and 
refinement of the student who arranged it. The many thousand vol- 
umes of Americana include apparently everything available up to the 
President's death. Although this historical hbrary has been transferred 
to the Memorial Building, the bookshelves have been refilled with 
volumes of general literature, and so present little outward difference 
of appearance from that of former days. A beautiful portrait of Mrs. 
Hayes in her young womanhood hangs over the mantel. In the draw- 
ing-room hang life-size portraits of President and Mrs. Hayes, by 
Brown and Andrews respectively, and other admirable family portraits 
and landscapes. Fine old mahogany furniture, a magnificent Cliinese 
rug and embroideries, and a facsimile of the desk on which Jefferson 
wrote the Declaration of Independence, are interesting treasures of this 
room. 

The Red Parlor to the left of the hall contains a full-length portrait 
of the only daughter of the house, at the age of twelve, painted at the 
^Vhite House by Andrews; a water-color by Turner, and landscapes in 
oil by Bierstadt and others. The chairs are marked, those used at 
President Hayes's inauguration in 1877 by President Grant, Chief 
Justice Waite, the Scrgeant-at-Arms, and himself; and the large up- 
holstered chair used by President Cleveland, at the funeral of President 



APPENDIX 443 

Hayes in January, 1893. Here are also the chairs used at the funeral 
by Governor McKinley, of Ohio; the three Army Officers, Colonels H. 
C. Corbin, H. C. Luddington, and J. C. Breckinridge, representing the 
War Department; four members of President Harrison's Cabinet; the 
Honorable J. L. M. Curry, of Virginia, general agent of the Peabody 
and Slater funds; and official representatives of the Loyal Legion of 
which Mr. Hayes was the commander-in-chief, and others. 

The bedroom in which both President and Mrs. Hayes died faces the 
south and overlooks one of the most beautiful parts of the grove. The 
furniture is of old mahogany, a four-poster bed and a post-decorated 
dresser. The books and pictures of Mrs. Hayes are carefully pre- 
served as arranged by President Hayes after her death. 

One of the most beautiful rooms of the house is the large dining-room 
with great windows at each end overlooking the lawns. The shelved 
chimney-piece over the large fireplace is devoted to fine examples of old 
Chinese porcelain and marred samples of the china used at the White 
House during the Hayes Administration. The chinmey-piece is topped 
with elk horns and the skull and jaws of a huge grizzly bear shot by 
Colonel Hayes. The two mahogany sideboards are family heirlooms, 
descended from the Birchard and Cook sides of the house respectively. 
The two mahogany serving-tables from the White House, purchased 
during Madison's Administration, were bought at a public sale of dis- 
carded furniture in 1881. 

An antique clock which ticks circumspectly near the dining-room 
door, was bequeathed to the President by his grandmother, Chloe 
Smith Hayes, and brought from the ancestral Hayes homestead in 
Brattleboro, Vermont. On this clock stands the owl which by dangling 
on the plumb-bob of the Washington Monument nearly caused the 
despair of the engineer in charge who thought that his foundation had 
proved insufficient and that the monument was "wobbhng." 

Scarcely less than the rooms on the first floor, the upper chambers 
are crowded with historic and beautiful objects. The Birchard Room 
has untold treasures from a Colonial and antiquarian point of view, 
including W^ashington mirrors, a baptismal font made by the President's 
great-grandfather, foot-stoves, bed-warmers, and pictures of the old 
Hayes houses at Branford, Connecticut; West Brattleboro and Dum- 
merston, Vermont; and Delaware, Ohio. The Washington Room con- 
tains furniture designed by a cousin, Wilham Rutherford Mead, of the 
firm of McKim, Mead & White, and purchased by President Hayes for 
use in his little daughter's room at the ^Vhite House to be retained by 
her as a souvenir. The Cook Room contains the furniture used by 
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes when they were married and when they went to 
Columbus during the first term as Governor. Here, too, are gathered 
daguerreotypes and early portraits of the family. 

The Otis Room is furnished with beautiful bedroom mahogany 



444 APPENDIX 

brought from the home of the mother of Mrs. Webb C. Hayes, the pres- 
ent mistress of Spiegel Grove. The Wright Room, named for a devoted 
friend of the present occupants of the house, the distinguished Professor 
George Frederick Wright, of Oberhn, contains a magnificent four-poster 
mahogany bed, an ancient blue coverlid, and other interesting furni- 
ture and bric-a-brac. 

Owing to the fact that the western wing of the house was unfinished 
at the time of the death of Mrs. Hayes, it partakes less of the heredi- 
tary character than the rest of the mansion; and Colonel Hayes has 
interested himself in furnishing the rooms with beautiful and curious 
furniture and hangings imported from the countries where he was 
under fire in five campaigns. Imposing and massive mahogany beds 
and dressers furnish the Santiago de Cuba Room; a vast four-poster 
with steps, that named after Porto Rico; twin cane-bottomed, barrel- 
canopied beds, and peacock dressers, the Filipino Room; the Chinese 
Rooms, en suite, decorated with Chinese wall-paper and hangings, show 
a Chinese bed from Ningpo, a monumental structure, carved, inlaid, 
and panelled with paintings on rice paper; while the Korean Room 
represents the Russo-Japanese War with a Korean money-chest orna- 
mented with brass swastikas, and Chinese and Korean brasses. The 
upper hallway, known as the "Smithsonian," is used as an upstairs 
sitting-room; and another large hallway is furnished with bookcases, 
settles, and a handsome secretary purchased for the White House 
in Lincoln's time and used in the Cabinet room during the Admin- 
istrations of Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, and 
McKinley, until its sale, with many other interesting relics, on the 
renovation of the White House after the death of McKinley. 

On General Hayes's personal assumption of the Spiegel Grove 
property in 1873, he began to improve and beautify the place, preserv- 
ing and accentuating its natural features by clearing out indifferent 
trees, extending the lawns immediately about the house to let in the 
sunlight, opening vistas to throw into relief some superb old oak or 
elm, and planting the hemlock avenue and wind-breaks of spruces and 
pines. The handsome Japanese cypresses and deciduous trees south of 
the house were sent thither from the Centennial Exposition in 1876, 
being among the earliest of such Japanese importations. General Hayes 
took parti(;ular pleasure in gathering historic trees, among which were 
a Napoleon willow, the forebears of which were willows on Washing- 
ton's grave at Mount Vernon and Napoleon's at St. Helena; two oaks 
grown from acorns of the veritable Charter Oak at Hartford, Connecti- 
cut, and tulip trees from the Virginia home of James Madison. General 
Hayes would point out to interested visitors storied trees like the oak 
to which savage Indians bound a captive maiden and built a fire 
about her, when a thunderstorm burst and put out the flames. White 



I 






APPENDIX 445 

traders hearing of the outrage sent a swift runner to Detroit to get an 
order for her release from the Crane, the Wyandot cliief; and he re- 
turned in time to save the captive. Another tree with a tale is "Grand- 
father's," an oak with a large hole near its base, under which Mrs. 
Hayes's father camped one night during the War of 1812. The story 
ran that he and a comrade were sent out to forage for provisions. It 
was so bitterly cold that they could not make their way back to 
camp, and lighting a fire at the foot of this tree they slept there in the 
open. The soldiers in camp had their feet frozen that night, but this 
pair escaped such disaster. The old musket and hunting-horn of this 
Private James Webb, of the Kentucky Mounted Riflemen, are among 
the treasures of the house. 

West of the residence, in an open field adjoining Spiegel Grove, 
General Hayes laid out the Lucy Hayes Chapel in young walnut trees, 
with nave, transepts, and tower, — a chapel which he used to say 
would be worth looking at two hundred years hence. 

The base of the knoll beyond the lawn south of the house is marked 
by great granite boulders in memory of departed horses, "Old Ned, 
aged 36," and Colonel Hayes's Filipino pony, "Piddig." Here is buried 
the only war horse of President Hayes that survived the battles of the 
war. "Old Whitey, a Hero of Nineteen Battles, '61-65," 

General Hayes moved the main entrance to Spiegel Grove, the 
"Buckland Gateway," to the northeastern angle of the grove, and laid 
out the winding driveway to the house. The main drive through 
the grove follows the old Sandusky-Scioto Trail of the Indians and 
French from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, now known as the Harrison 
Mihtary Trail of the War of 1812, down which General Harrison 
brought his troops on his way to Fort Stephenson after Croghan's vic- 
tory. The road leaves the grove by the Harrison Gateway, at the 
southwestern angle, continuing down to the old French spring, and on 
up the Sandusky to Ball's battlefield. Fort Seneca, Fort Ball (Tiffin), 
Fort Ferree, and Upper Sandusky to Franklinton (now Columbus). 

Since Colonel Hayes presented Spiegel Grove to the Ohio Archaeologi- 
cal and Historical Society, he has erected three beautiful split boulder 
gateways at the three principal entrances, two of them marked by 
enormous ten-inch Rodman guns and named in honor of the two mili- 
tary heroes. General William Henry Harrison and General James B. 
McPherson (a native of this county), with legends descriptive of the 
important military events which had local interest in the^ old French 
War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, 
the War with Mexico, the War for the Union, and the war with Spain, 
and in the Phihppines and China. 

During the first year of President Hayes's Administration, at the 
annual reunion of his regiment, the custom of naming trees after dis- 
tmguished guests was inaugurated by the naming of the "Reunion 



w 



446 APPENDIX 

Oaks" in honor of General Sheridan and of General Hayes's fellow 
officers in the colonelcy of his regiment, the Twenty-third Ohio In- 
fantry, — Generals Rosecrans, Scammon, and Comly. At this time 
were named also the "Matthews Oak," the "Chief Justice Waite 
Oak," and the "General Crook Oak." 

The finest elm in the grove was christened the "General Sherman 
Elm" while General Sherman was visiting Spiegel Grove in 1880, 
after his memorable trip escorting President Hayes and party to the 
Pacific Coast and the Texan frontier posts. Since that time the "Gar- 
field Maple," the "Cleveland Hickory," the "McKinley Oaks," and 
the "Taft Oak" have been named in honor of Presidential visitors, 
and the "Admiral Clark Oak" in honor of the Captain of the Oregon 
in the war with Spain. When the great concourse gathered to paj' the 
last tribute to President Hayes, at his funeral in 1893, Grover Cleveland, 
ex-President and now again President-elect, made the long journey in 
the midst of furious winter storms to show his frequently expressed 
admiration and regard for President Hayes. As the procession formed, 
the family horses attached to the old White House carriage became 
somewhat fractious, owing to the crisp air and the music of the 
bands, so that, as President Cleveland was about to enter the car- 
riage, the horses made a plunge forward. While the horses were being 
brought under control President Cleveland placed his right hand 
upon a large shell-bark hickory. It was deemed especially appropri- 
ate, therefore, that this tree should be named in honor of the great 
Democrat. 

The Taft Oak was also named by the laying-on of hands. Just before 
starting on his speaking campaign during the Presidential canvass in 
1908, Mr. Taft and his charming wife (who as Miss Helen Herron had 
been a frequent visitor at the Hayes home both in Oliio and at 
Washington) came to spend a day at Spiegel Grove as the guests of 
Colonel Hayes. Judge Taft was advised by his host of the custom of 
naming trees for distinguished visitors, and after having had pointed 
out to him the General Sherman Elm, the Cleveland Hickory, the 
Garfield Maple, and the McKinley Oaks, he was invited to select his 
tree. He promptly advanced to one of the grandest oaks in the grove, 
immediately in front of the mansion, and placing his hand upon it 
said with a Taft smile, "This is about my size!" Since then the tree 
has borne his name. 

In the will made by President Hayes, a short time before his death, 
he bequeathed, at the request of his children, Spiegel Grove and all the 
personal property connected therewith to them to be held in common 
without sale or division. Five years later, the Ohio Archaeological and 
Historical Society, of which President Hayes was the president at the 
time of his death, issued a confidential circular with a view of securing 
the property with its valuable library and collections, which had been 



f 

I 
I 




< ^ 






1 

1 



APPENDIX 447 

tendered to it on the sole condition of raising an endowment sufficient 
to preserve and care for the property. In this circular the society said: 
"This offer of the family is unusual for its liberaUty, and most worthy of 
commendation for the filial desire it expresses to perpetuate the memorial 
to loved and honored parents. The place known as Spiegel Grove is of 
great historic interest, being located in the old Indian reservation or 
free territory maintained at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River, for 
a long time prior to the Revolutionary War. The old Harrison Trail, so 
called, a military road leading from Fort Stephenson to Fort Seneca, 
passes through the grove, and is preserved as its principal driveway. 
Of all the homes of our twenty-four Presidents, covering a period of 
one hundred and ten years, the only ones that have been preserved are 
those of Washington at Mount Vernon, Jefferson at Monticello, Madi- 
son at Montpelier, Jackson at the Hermitage, and Lincoln's modest 
home in the city of Springfield; but in every case mentioned more or 
less time had elapsed before the homes were acquired and put in a state 
of preservation, and few or no personal relics or memorials were secured. 
Spiegel Grove is now in a perfect state of preservation, and all of the 
valuable historical effects of President Hayes remain there intact. Un- 
questionably this is the largest and most complete and perhaps most 
valuable collection of documents, papers, and books ever left by any 
of our Presidents. President Hayes was a great reader and a man of 
scholarly tastes and attainments. He acquired the finest library of 
American history perhaps ever owned by any private individual, and 
during his public life he preserved all papers and memoranda in an 
orderly and accessible form." 

President McKinley, hearing of the possibility of the trustees of the 
society obtaining ownership of Spiegel Grove, wrote to the president. 
General R. Brinkerhoff : "The offer made by the family is one which will 
appeal to the public spirit of the citizens of Ohio. So historic an estate, 
with its wealth of associations and interest, and an exceedingly im- 
portant collection of books and documents, should be saved to the 
State of Ohio and placed within the reach of all to whom their use will 
be of great value and inspiration." 

The society, however, did not succeed in raising the required endow- 
ment, and the entire Spiegel Grove property, library, and collections, 
became the property of Colonel Webb C. Hayes by deed from the other 
heirs in the settlement of the estate in 1899, since which time he has 
maintained it as the Hayes family summer home. In order to secure 
the permanent preservation of the Harrison Trail, Colonel Hayes on 
March 30, 1909, deeded some twenty acres of Spiegel Grove for a State 
Park "to the State of Ohio for the use and benefit of the Ohio State 
Archaeological and Historical Society so long as said premises shall be 
maintained and used as a state park, in which the old French and In- 
dian trail along the Sandusky-Scioto Water Course from Lake Erie to 
the Ohio River, later known as the Harrison Military Trail of the War 



w 



448 APPENDIX 

of 1812, shall be preserved in its present location and maintained as a 
drive, and in which the trees, shrubs, and flowers, now growing in said 
park shall be preserved and cared for, and together with such other 
trees, shrubs, and flowers as may hereafter be planted in said park shall 
be properly marked with the scientific and common names, so as to be 
instructive and interesting to visitors. 

" The Grantor reserves the right to transfer the remains of Ruther- 
ford B. Hayes and Lucy W. Hayes to the knoll in the premises hereby 
conveyed in Spiegel Grove to be placed in a granite block beneath the 
monument heretofore designed and erected by Rutherford B. Hayes 
in Oakwood Cemetery, Fremont. The said monument, together with 
such improvements as shall be placed around it, shall be preserved and 
maintained forever, but no building or structure, save the monument, 
other than a suitable enclosure from the public roads, or around the 
monument, shall be erected in said park without the consent in writing 
of the Grantor." 

A year later, on March 12, 1910, Colonel Hayes executed a trust 
deed, to secure to the State of Ohio all the remaining portion of Spiegel 
Grove, including the residence, as well as "all the personal property 
which formerly belonged to Rutherford B. Haj'es and Lucy Webb 
Hayes, or either of them, located in said Spiegel Grove or elsewhere in 
the city of Fremont, Ohio." The deed declares: — 

"Ever since the death of Rutherford B. Hayes and Lucy Webb 
Hayes, it has been the desire of their children to place Spiegel Grove, 
which for many years was their home, into such hands and under such 
conditions as would make it a fitting memorial from their children to 
a beloved father and mother. In partial accomplishment of this desire 
the said Grantor has heretofore conveyed to the State of Ohio portions 
of the aforesaid Spiegel Grove, which portions so conveyed are to be 
held by the State of Ohio for the use and benefit of the Ohio State 
Archaeological and Historical Society so long as the premises shall be 
maintained as a State Park in which the Old French and Indian Trail 
along the Sandusky -Scioto Water Course from Lake Erie to the Ohio 
River, later known as the Harrison Military Trail of the War of 1812, 
shall be preserved in its present location and maintained as a park drive, 
together with the park drives in the above described premises substan- 
tially as now located, and in which the trees, shrubs, and flowers now 
growing in said Park and Spiegel Grove shall be preserved and cared for, 
and together with other trees, shrubs, and flowers as may be hereafter 
planted in said Park and Spiegel Grove shall be properly marked with ^ 
their scientific and common names so as to be instructive and interest- 11 
ing to visitors. In order to completely carry out the intentions of said ' 
Grantor, so that ultimately all of Spiegel Grove may be held and used 
for the purpose aforesaid, and the residence therein preserved in its 
original condition as a typical American home of the last half of the 
Nineteenth Century and used for residential purposes only, the said 



APPENDIX 449 

Grantor has executed and delivered this conveyance, subject to the 
following covenants and conditions: 

"First: That the said Ohio State Archaeological and Historical So- 
ciety shall secure the erection upon that part of Spiegel Grove hereto- 
fore conveyed to the State of Ohio for a State Park a suitable fireproof 
building, on the site reserved opposite the Jefferson Street entrance, for 
the purpose of preserving and forever keeping in Spiegel Grove all 
papers, books, and manuscripts left by the said Rutherford B.Hayes, 
together with such articles and property formerly belonging to the said 
Rutherford B. Hayes as are now loaned to or stored with the Birchard 
Library Association or elsewhere in Fremont, Ohio; including also such 
articles and property of the Grantor as may have been loaned or stored 
by the said Grantor with the Western Reserve Historical Society of 
Cleveland, Ohio, or the Birchard Library Association of Fremont, 
Ohio: which building shall be in the form of a Branch Reference Library 
and Museum of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 
and the construction and decoration of the said building shall be in the 
nature of a memorial also to the soldiers, sailors, and pioneers of San- 
dusky County; and suitable memorial tablets, busts, and decorations 
indicative of the historical events and patriotic citizenship of Sandusky 
County shall be placed in and on said building, and said building shall 
forever remain open to the public under proper rules and regulations 
to be hereafter made by said Society. 

"Second: Any conveyance of the described premises shall reserve to 
the said Grantor during his lifetime and to his nominee, appointed as 
hereinafter provided and to the remaining Grantees and to their nom- 
inees and to the successors of said nominees as hereinafter appointed 
after said Grantor's death the right of occupying the residence now 
located upon the premises. . . . 

"No person except a husband or a wife of the above named Grantees 
shall be nominated or given the right of occupying said residence in 
the manner aforesaid unless he or she shall be a lineal descendant of 
the said Rutherford B. Hayes and Lucy Webb Hayes. If at any time 
there shall be no one living selected in the manner aforesaid to occupy 
said residence, then the Trustees of the Ohio State Archaeological and 
Historical Society shall have the right to select a lineal descendant of 
the said Rutherford B. Hayes and Lucy Webb Hayes to use and occupy 
said residence; but said residence shall never be occupied or used for 
any other than residential purposes only, to the end of preserving it in 
its original condition as a typical home of the last half of the Nine- 
teenth Century. 

"The foregoing matter contained in this second paragraph shall not 
preclude the occupancy of a suitable portion of said residence by a care- 
taker during the absence of those who by the terms of this paragraph 
are given the right of occupancy in said home." 

The society was rejoiced to accept the trust, and the Legislature of 



f 



450 APPENDIX 

Ohio was not slow in appropriating fifty thousand dollars for the erection 
of a fireproof building. This Memorial Building, which is a beautiful 
structure of classic architecture, stands among the great trees to the 
north of the house, facing the entrance from Hayes Avenue. It is of 
light-grey Ohio sandstone and of ample proportions. Within its walls, 
carefully arranged, are now permanently preserved the valuable li- 
brary, papers, and collections of President Hayes. 

Thus there is no absence at Spiegel Grove of that tradition which 
Ruskin thought would "rob your rivers of their laughter and your 
flowers of their light." Nature and intelligent endeavor, working hand 
in hand, have stamped beauty and story upon its every detail. One 
feels that the influence of the early denizens of the place still haunts it; 
that over house and grounds broods a spirit of beautiful other days when 
a sturdy man and a lovely woman who had received the highest honors 
in the land lived there, leaving behind them traditions of gracious man- 
ners, high ideals, and noble characters as a legacy to their children, their 
townspeople, and their countrymen. Of memorial parks such as Spiegel 
Grove this land has all too few. 






INDEX 



INDEX 

PREPARED BY 

DAVID M. IMATTESON 



Abbe, Cleveland, at H.'a reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Abbott, E. A., in West Virginia operations 
(1862), 1, 170 n., 173; and Morgan's raid, 
211. 

Abbott, J. S., of Electoral Commission, 1, 
530 n. 

Abolitionists, Story on, and Constitution, 1, 
36. See also Slavery. 

Adams, C. F., and Liberal nomination 
(1872), 1, 366. 

Adams, C. H., verses on Taps, 2, 401 n. 

Adams, Henry, at dinner with H., on failure 
of American government, 3, 327 n. 

Adams, J. Q., H. on, as political speaker, 1, 
34; activity of oiBce-holders under, 3, 379. 

Adams, John, and Declaration of Independ- 
ence, 1, 41; and power of removal, 43. 

Addison, Joseph, H. on, 1, 72 n. 

Agricultural college, H. and, for Ohio, 1, 
329, 349. See also Ohio State University. 

Aiken, Wilham, Peabody Education Fund, 
3, 351. 

Albert, Prince, Emerson on, 1, 62. 

Albritton, J. L., at H.'s funeral, 2, 400. 

Aldrich, N. W., opposes retirement of green- 
backs, 3, 129 n. 

Alexis, (3rand Duke, dinner at White House, 
3,312. 

Allen, Walter, Ponca Indian Commission, 3, 
231 n. 

Allen, William, on stump in Ohio (1840), 1, 
98; elected Governor (1873), 381; adminis- 
tration, 382; renomination, 3SS, 391; de- 
feated by H., 406; on civil service reform, 
465; Tilden and candidacy (1875), 481. 

Allison, W. B., and H.'s letter of acceptance, 
1, 466 n.; silver bill, 3, 115; opposes retire- 
ment of greenbacks, 129 n.; at dinner with 
H., 327 n.; H. on presidential candidacy 
(1888), 370. 

American AlUance, H.'s attitude (1876), 1, 
476-478, 485. 

American party. See Know-Nothing. 

American Revolution, ancestors of H. in, 1, 
3, 5, 13, 14; British intrigue in Vermont, 
9; ancestors of Mrs. Hayes in, 78. 

Ames, Fisher, and Hamilton's financial argu- 
ment, 1, 45. 

Ammen, Jacob, regiment in West Virginia 
(1861), 1, 145. 

Anderson, J. E., on election frauds in Louisi- 
ana, 3, 150, 157; H. on relations with, 
157 n., 158 n. 

Anderson, R. C, to H (1876) on conduct dur- 
ing and after campaign, 1, 498 n.; H.'s 
\isit (1876), 511; (1877), 2, 246 n.; H. on 
death, 321 n. 

Anderson, Robert, H. on failure at Sumter, 
1, 120; correspondence with Beckley, 161. 



Anderson, T. C, Louisiana Returning Board, 
Sherman's opinion, 1, 503, 507; Feder.il ap- 
pointment, 3, 109 n.; prosecution, 143. 

Andrews, Christian [Mrs. John Birchard], 
1, 13. ' 

Andrews, Lorin, in campaign of 1840, 1, 26; 
career, 26 n.; spurs, 205. 

Andrews, Samuel, and beginning of Yale, 1, 
7 n. 

Angell, J. B., special Chinese mission, 2, 217. 

Annexation, Story on constitutional right, 1, 
43; H. accused of designs on ^Iexico, 3, 
209; H. favors Canadian, 377. 

Antietam camp.iign, march of Cox's di\'ision, 
1, 193-196; reoccupation of Frederick, 196; 
South Mountain, 197-201. 

Appointments. See Civil ser^'ice. 

Appropriation bills, extra session (1877), 2, 
81; (1879), 173; failure (45th Cong.), contest 
over riders, 170-173; Democratic policy to 
withhold suppUes to coerce repeal of recon- 
struction laws, 172, 177, 178, 190-194; H.'a 
determination to resist coercion, 179-185; 
vetoes, 185-194, 197-203; failure of poUcy, 
199 204. 

Arbitr'arion, H. on, 3, 10. 

Archffiology, interest of H. in Ohio memorials, 
1, 350. 

Aristotle, H. on Ethics, 1, 68. 

Arkansas, conditions (1866), 1, 309. See also 
Reconstruction. 

Armorial bearings, Hayes, 1, 2. 

Armstead, Rosetta, fugitive-slave case, 1, 
94, 95. 

Armstrong, H. C, on nomination of H. for 
Congress (1864), 1, 235 n. 

Army, constitutionahty of protection of 
carpetbag governments, 3, 39, 43; sup- 
pression of railroad riots (1877), 113, 228; 
rider to repeal use at polls, 170, 183, 186, 
187; H.'s attitude and veto. 184-194; inter- 
ference at polls prevented by other laws, 
185, 187, 194; bill as denying right of fed- 
eral civil officers at polls, 184, ISS, 189, 194; 
veto of separate bill to prevent presence at 
place of election, 195-197; act to forbid use 
at polls as poUce force, 200, 201 n. 

Army of West Virginia, H. as first president 
of Society of, 1, 274; reunion (1892), 2, 
393 re. See also Crook. 

Arnold, Jonathan, and British intrigue in 
Vermont, 1, 9. 

Arthur, Alfred, report on Morgan's raid, 1, 
212 re. 

Arthur, C. A., Collector at New York, and 
H.'s reform order, 3, 85; contest over re- 
moval, 85-94; and civil ser\'ice reform 
when President, 107 re., 365; nomination 
for Vice-President, 238; and H. at Grant's 
funeral, 359 n., 360 n.; H. at funeral, 360; 



454 



INDEX 






H. on probable results of presidency, 362- 

364; H. on first message, 3(j5. 
Ashley, J. M., H. on, 1, 277; and representa- 
tion based on suffrage, 278. 
Assessments, political, H.'s attitude (1876). 

1, 482; H.'s order against, 2, 80, 86 n., 103, 

106. 
Atlanta, H.'s visit and speech (1877), 3, 250- 

253. 
Atlanta New Era, on Reconstruction Acts, 1, 

312. 
Augusta Press, on Reconstruction Acts, 1, 

312. 
Austin, Drusilla [Mrs. Roger Birchard], 

1, 6, 14. 

Austin, Mrs. L. C, H.'s last visit, 2, 397; 

H.'s friendship, 423. 
Austin, Texas, in 1849, 1, 52. 
A verell, W. W., railroad raid (1563). 1, 214; 

(1864), 217, 220; in the Valley, 232; Ope- 

quon, 240, 242, 251; Fisher's Hill, 248, 

249 n., 251; relieved, 251. 
Avery, M. P., in West Virginia operations 

(1861), 1, 152; (1862), 178, 179. 

B.C. Levi, river steamer (1863), 1, 212. 
Bacon, F. H., in West Virginia (1862), 1, 

206. 
Bacon, Francis, on personal talk, 1, 21. 
Baker, E. D., killed at Ball's Bluff, 1, 146; 

H. on, 147. 
Ball's Bluff, battle, 1, 145; H. on, 147. 
Baltimore American, on H.'s speeches (1879), 

2, 284. 

Bancroft, George, H. on, as public speaker 
(1843), 1, 35; social relations with H., 2, 
305, 312 n.; dinner for Pres. H., 327 n. 

Bank of the United States, Hamilton's un- 
answerable argument, 1, 42; H. on Tyler's 
veto, 98. 

Banking. See Bank of United States, Fi- 
nances, National banks. 

Banks, N. P., popularity with troops, 1, 192; 
on assassination of Garfield, 2, 364. 

Barnes, J. K., Peabody Education Fund, 3, 
351. 

Barrett, J. E., in retreat from the Valley 
(1864), 1, 226 n. 

Bartholomew, Linn, nominates Hartranft 
(1876), 1, 448. 

Barton Spring, Texas, 1, 52. 

Bashford, J. W., at Mrs. Hayes' funeral, 
2, 390, 391; at H.'s funeral, 400. 

Bateman, A. E., at Southern dinner in New 
York (1889), 2, 387 n. 

Batt, W. J., on H. and Prison Association, 
2, 347 n. 

Baxter, John, H. on appointment, 2, 89 n. 

Bayard, T. F., of joint committee on dis- 
puted election, 1, 524 n. ; of Electoral Com- 
mission, 530 n.; and French Panama Ca- 
nal, 2, 219. 

Beaconsfield. See Disraeli. 

Beard, J. H., volunteer home company, 1, 
121. 

Beatty, W. T., objection to appointed regi- 
mental officers, 1, 125. 

Beck, J. B., and Democratic programme on 
election laws (1879), 2, 178, 179. 

Beckley, Alfred [1], war attitude, papers, 1, 
161; surrender, 163, 164; anecdote of 
Jackson, 163. 

Beckle%-, Alfred [2], captured and exchanged, 
1, 163. 

Beckley (Raleigh), W. Va., Federal troops 
at (1861-62), 1, 153, 157, 158, 160, 164, 
165, 169; movement aguinat (1863), 209. 



Beckwith, Elizabeth [Mrs. James Birchard], 
1, 13. 

Beecher, H. W., Emerson on, 1, 62; on the 
war, 121; and rumor on Lowell's electoral 
vote (1876), 500 n.; and Chinese immigra- 
tion, 2, 211. 

Bell, John, H. on campaign of 1860, t, 115, 
116. 

Belmont, August, and Bland Silver Bill, 2, 
123. 

Benham, H. W., in West Virginia campaign 
(1861), 1, 132, 134, 136, 153. 

Bennington, Vt., centennial of battle, 2» 242. 

Berrien, J. M., H. on, as speaker, 1, 44. 

Berr>'ville, Va., battle (1864), 1, 236. 

Betting, Story on, 1, 34. 

Beverly, W. Va., Federals at (1861), 1, 132. 

Bible, H. on, as literature, 1, 72. See also 
Religion. 

Bickham, W. D., from H. (187.5) on candi- 
dacy for Governor, 1, 383 ; and nomination 
of H., 385; from H. on issues and conduct 
of campaign, 390, 391; and H.'s presiden- 
tial candidacy, 443 n.; on filibuster over 
electoral count, 532 n.; on precautions for 
H.'s safety (1877), 3, 3; from H. (1877) on 
Southern policy, 66 n.; on H.'s tour of the 
South, 253. 

Bimetallism. See Silver. 

Birchard, Austin, H. on, 1, 39. 

Birchard, Christian (Andrews), 1, 13. 

Birchard, Drusilla (Austin), 1, 6, 14. 

Birchard, Elias, career, 1, 13. 

Birchard, Ehzabeth (Beckwith), 1, 13. 

Birchard, James, career, 1, 13. 

Birchard, Jane (Lee | Hyde), 1, 13. 

Birchard, John [1], career, 1, 13. 

Birchard, John [2, g. s.], 1, 13. 

Birchard, Roger, 1, 6, 14. 

Birchard, Sarah (Jacobs), 1, 14. 

Birchard, Sardis, and H., 1, 14, 2, 417; at 
Lower Sandusky (Fremont), 1, 46; visit 
to Texas, 48-54; at H.'s wedding, 81; in 
Boston (1844), 100; presents Spiegel Grove 
to H., 376, 2, 441; and park and library for 
Fremont, 1, 376, 378; death, 377; charac- 
ter, H. on, 377; H. as executor, 378; and 
name Spiegel Grove, 2, 331 n.; portrait, 
442. 

Birchard, Sophia [Mrs. Rutherford Hayes], 
1, 6. 

Birchard, Thomas, immigrant, career, 1, 13. 

Black, J. S., and disputed election, 1, 531 n. 

Black code, repeal of Oliio's, 1, 329. 

Blackburn, J. C. S., and Potter Committee 
(1878), 2,156, 156 n.,157n.; and Democratic 
coercive programme (1879), 179 n. 

Blackstone, Sir Wilham, H. on Commen- 
taries, 1, 29. 

Blaine, J. G., congratulates H. on nomina- 
tion for Governor (1875), 1, 387 n.; as can- 
didate for presidential nomination (1876), 
character, 418, 453 n., 454 ra.; and reform- 
ers, 431; H. on candidacy (1876), 432, 454; 
Curtis on candidacy, 434; Ingersoll's nom- 
ination speech, 446; danger of stampede 
for, 448; in balloting, 448-452; congratu- 
lates H. on nomination, 456; on Demo- 
cratic platform, 467 n.; in campaign, 484; 
opposition to H., attacks on Southern pol- 
icy and Cabinet, 2, 16, 16 n., 22, 25, 26, 
29, 43, 65, 227; to H. (1877) on Cabinet 
po.sition for J. E. Johnston, 21 n.; and New 
York Custom House appointments (1877), 
87; opposes retirement of greenbacks, 
129 n.; accuses H. of designs on Mexico, 
210; and Chinese immigration, 213; can- 



INDEX 



455 



didacy (1880), 233 n.. 234, 237; Grant on 
(1S;9), 2:36 n.; H. on campaign (1884), 
366-368; H. on candidacy (1S8S), 370 n., 
371; (1892), 375, 376. 

Blair, Montgomery, and fraud issue of dis- 
puted election, 2, 146, 147. 

Bland, R. P., silver bill, 2, 115. 

Bland Silver Bill, 2, 115, 120-124; veto mes- 
sage, 124-126; passage over veto, 126; jus- 
tice of veto, 126; in operation, effect, 127; 
H.'s efforts for repc?al, 134, 137. 

Blatohford, Samuel, H. on appointment, 2, 
89 n. 

" Bloody shirt," H.'a opposition, 2, 340 n., 
341 n. 

Boards, H. and minority representation on 
State, 1, 346. 

Bonaparte, J. N.,at dinner with H.,2, 327n. 

Bonaparte, Mrs. Jerome, anecdotes, 2, 327 n. 

Bonds, sale for resumption, 2, 113, 128, 131; 
refunding under H., 113 n., 132, 133; H. 
on free silver as violating public faith with 
holders, 117, 119, 120, 124-126; concurrent 
resolution for payment in silver, 128; pop- 
vilar interest in small, 132 n.; veto of Re- 
funding Bill (1881). 137-140. See also 
Public debt. 

Booth, Judge — , and free silver, 2, 120. 

Booth, Newton, considered for H.'s Cabinet, 
2, 17. 

Booth, O. H., from H. (1870) on minority 
representation on State boards, 1, 346 n. 

Borden, H. C, at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Border States, H. on solution of slavery ques- 
tion (1862), 1, 157. 

Boston, H.'s visit (1877), 2, 241. 

Boston Herald, on H. as presidential possi- 
biUty (1875), 1, 424. 

Bo-ston Post, on negro suffrage, 1, 317. 

Boston Transcript, on H.'s appearance, 2, 
412 n. 

Bottsford, J. L., in West Virginia operations 
(1861), 1, 133; (1862), 170. 

Bounty jumper, execution, 1, 231, 476 n. 

Bowles, Samuel, on Greeley as presidential 
candidate, 1, 372, 373. 

Boyce, J. P., Slater Fund, 2, 352. 

Boynton, H. V., on Kellar in Washington 
(1877), 1, 520 n. 

Bradley, J. P., as member of Electoral Com- 
mission, 1, 530, 537. 

Bradley family of Vermont, Russell ancestry, 
1, 8 n. 

Brady, J. T., War Democrat, 1, 209. 

Bragg, Abram, Union man in West Virginia, 
1, 166. 

Bragg, Braxton, Kentucky campaign,!, 191- 
193. 

Branford, Conn., Russell family, 1, 7, 8; sec- 
ond founding, 7 n. 

Brattleboro, Vt., Hayes family and home- 
stLad, 1, 5. 

Breckinridge, J. C, H. on, in campaign of 
1860, 1, 115, 116; defeat of Sigel (1864), 
222; Opequon, 239, 245. 

Breckinridge, J. C., at H.'s funeral, 2, 443. 

Bright, Jesse, political ethics, 1, 438 n. 

Brinkerhoff, Roeliff, tribute to H., 2, 406. 

Bristow, B. H., as candidate for presidential 
nomination (1876), character, 1, 418; Cur- 
tis on candidacy, 434; chances of success if 
nominated, 435 7!. -437 «.;H. on candidacy, 
431; speech nominating, 446; in balloting, 
448-451; withdrawn, 451; and Conkhng, 
515; and H. during disputed election, 517 n. 

Brooks, James, H. on, 1, 278 n. 



Brooks, Phillips, Slater Fund, 2, 352 n. 

Broomall, J. M., aphorism, 1, 316. 

Brough, John, H. on election (1863), 1, 214, 
304; War Democrat, 301. 

Brougham, Lord, Story on, 1, 35. 

Brown, A. G., on duty to freedmen, 1, 313. 

Brown, Abigail (Hitchcock) [Mrs. Ezekiel 
Hayes], 1, 5. 

Brown, Harrison, in West Virginia, disci- 
pUned (1862), 1, 160. 

Brown, J. C, commission to Louisiana (1877), 
2, 45, 54. 

Brown, J. Y., conference with H.'s friends on 
Southern pohcy, 1, 533, 534, 2, 66, 67. 

Brown, John, H. on, as hero, 1, 352. 

Bryan, G. M., H.'s friendship, 1, 25, 2, 423; 
on H. and sectional societies at college, 1, 
27; H.'svisit (1849), 48-54; future homeon 
Colorado River, 51; secession letter to H., 
121; on Sardis Birchard, 378 n.; on effect on 
South of Democratic success (1876), 494 n.; 
from H. (1884) on election, 3, 368. 

Bryant, W. C, conference of RepubUcan re- 
formers (1876), 1, 430. 

Buchanan, James, H. on campaign of 1856, 

1, 100, 107. 

Buckhannon, W. Va., Federal troops at 
(1861), 1, 131. 

Buckland, R. P., H.'s law partner, 1,46; and 
H.'s presidential candidacy, 433; consulted 
on Cabinet, 2, 17. 

Buokner, S. B., at Southern dinner in New 
York (1889), 2, 387 n.; on negro pro'olem. 
388 n. 

Buell, D. C, H. on removal, 1, 204. ^ 

Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, on H.'s silver 
wedding, 2, 319 n. 

Bull Run, H. on first battle, 1, 127; on second 
battle and retreat, 189-193. 

Bullock, A. H., conference of Republican re- 
formers (1876), 1, 430. 

Bullock, R. B., from H. (1887) on definite re- 
tirement, 2, 369. 

Burchard, H. C., and election investigation 
(1878), 2, 156. 

Burns, — , H. on appointment, 1, 347 n. 

Burnside, A. E., popularitv with troops, 1, 
196; H. on, as general, 204; H. on Fred- 
ericksburg, 206; and French Panama 
Canal, 2, 218. 

Burt, S. W., contest over appointment as 
Naval Officer, 2, 92-94 ; H.'s order for re- 
form in custom house, 95 n. 

Bushnell, Horace, Emerson on, 1, 62. 

Butler, B. F., H.'s antagonism, 1, 383; of 
Potter Committee, 2, 157; Gettysburg ora- 
tion, 255; H. on (1878), 267; H. on hatred 
as certificate of good character, 429 n. 

Butler, S. P., at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Butler County Democrat, on reconstruction 
amendments, 1, 361. 

Butterfield, Daniel, at .Southern dinner in 
New York (1889), 2, 387 n. 

Butterworth, Benjamin, to H. (1879) on con- 
test with Congress, 2, 207 n. 

Cabinet, building of H.'s, names considered, 

2, 17, 286, 287; principles of appointment 
to, 18, 109 n.; invitation to Sherman, IS; 
to Schurz, reply, 19, 20; question of J. E. 
Johnston, 20; Key as Southern representa- 
tive, 21; attempts at dictation, 22; other 
selections, 22; opposition in Senate to con- 
firmation, 23-28, 82,83 n.; public opinion, 
26, 27, 29; H. on opposition, 28; character, 
29-32 ; changes, 32 n., 223; on Bland Silver 



456 



INDEX 



Bill, 123, 124; and French Panama Canal, 
221 ?i.; character of meetings, 303; H.'e 
personal relations, 422. 

Cable. G. W., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 317 n. 

Caldwell, Archibald, Union man, rescue of 
family, 1, 185. 

Calhoun, J. C, anecdote of presidential can- 
didacy, 2, 327 n.; and reconciliation with 
Clay, 327 n. 

Calhoun, J. C, at Southern dinner in New 
York (1889), 2, 387 n. 

Cahforniii, on coin basis, 1, 396; H.'s visit, 2, 
293. See also Chinese. 

Caffieron, Don, withdraws Hartranft's 
name (187G), 1, 452; and H.'s Cabinet, 
2, 22; election to Senate, 28 n. 

Cameron, Sinion, H. on resignation (1862), 
1, 161; post-election en.issarj- to H., 514 n., 
515; opposition to H., and Cabinet appoint- 
ments, 2, 16, 22, 26, 27, 29, 227; resigns 
from Senate, 28 n. ; and Grant's candidacy 
(1880), 237 n., 240 n. 

Camp Chase, Ohio, 1, 125. 

Camp Ewing, W. Va., 1, 151. 

Camp Hastings, Md., 1, 263. 

Camp Hayes, W. Va., 1, 158. 

Camp Jackson, Ohio, 1, 125. 

Camp Maskell, W. Va., 1, 204. 

Camp Piatt, W. Va., 1, 226. 

Camp Rovnolds, W. ^ a., 1, 207. 

Camp Tompkins, W. Va., 1, 144, 147. 

Camp Union, W. Va., 1, 157. 

Camp White, W. Va., 1, 208. 

Campbell, Hugh, from H. (1885) on legality 
of his election, 1, 538. 

Campbell. J. E., in campaign of 1892, 2, 376. 

Campbell, L. D., and reconstruction amend- 
ments, 1, 361. 

Canada, H. on annexation, 2, 377. 

Canby, Israel, in West Virginia (1862), 1, 206. 

Canton, Ohio, union of 23d Regiment (1880), 
H.'s speech, 2, 288, 291, 292. 

Carhsle Indian School, beginning, 2, 229. 

Carlyle, Thomas, Emerson on, 1, 62, 63, 65. 

Carnifex Ferr>% battle, 1, 135-138. 

Carpenter, F. B., H.'s criticism of Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation painting, 1, 282 n. 

Carrington, H. W., in West Virginia (1862), 
1, 179. 

Carter, D. K., on veto of Army Appropria- 
tion Bill (1879), 2, 186 n. 

Cary, S. F., candidacy for Congress (1867), 

1, 328; for Lieutenant-Governor (1875), 
inflationist, 388, 391, 393, 405; and school 
issue, 398. 

Casev, T. L., and Washington Monument, 

2, "225 n., 226 n. 

Caskie, R. A.,inWest Virginia (1862), 1,160. 

Cass, Lewis, H. on, 1, 102. 

Cavalry, H. on, for West Virginia operations, 
1, 159, 172; inferiority of Federal, 192. 

Cedar Creek, Federal position, 1, 2.53; Sheri- 
dan's departure, 254; Early's plan, 255; 
surprise and retreat, 255-2.58; Sheridan's 
ride, 2.58-260; H. on situation when Sheri- 
dan arrived, 259 n.; Federal attack. Con- 
federate retreat, 260, 261; relative conduct 
of corps, 262, 264. 

Centennial Exposition, Ohio and, 1, 409, 412; 
Ohio Day, H. at, 48.5-488. 

Chamberlain, D. H., rival government in 
South Carolina, 2, 35; as burden to H.'s 
administration, 39 Ji.; Matthfws' letter 
and reply, 42-44; conference with H., 49- 
51; final plea for support, 52; surrenders 
government, .53; address, 53; later review 
of fall, 53 n. See also South Carolina. 



Chamberlain, J. L., on H. and Loyal Le^on, 
2, 344 n. 

Chandler, Abigail [Mrs. Israel Smith], 1, 10. 

Chandler, Isaac, 1, 10. 

Chandler, W. E., and Conkling, 1, 5l5; from 
H. (1876) on sending a representative to 
Washington, 519 n.; and Xew Hampshire 
election (1877), on bargain with Louisiana 
Returning Board, 2, 89 n., 145, 146; 
charges against, as visiting statesman in 
Florida, 159, 160. 

Chandler, Zachariah, as manager of Repub- 
hcan campaign (1876), 1, 471-473, 482 n. 

Channing, W. E., H. on, 1, 71, 79. 

Charity, H. and Ohio State Board, 1, 349, 
409; repeal and renewal of board, 409, 410. 

Charleston, W. Va., Federal camp (1863), 1, 
208. 

Charleston Neuts and Courier, on suppression 
of negro vote (1878), 2, 266 n. 

Chariottesville, H.'s visit, 2, 250, 253. 

Charlottesville Chronicle, on Reconstruction 
Acts, 1,311. 

Chase, S. P., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 57; 
Rosetta fugitive-slave case, 94; and 
miUtarj- commissions for Matthews and 
Hayes, 122 ?!. ; H. on Chief-Justiceship, 205; 
on "negro suffrage, 318; and "new depar- 
ture" (1871), 356; H.'s friendship, 2, 421. 

Chattanooga, H.'s visit (1877), 2, 250. 

Chautaucjua, H.'s interest, 2, 433. 

Cherokee Nation d. Georgia, Wirt's speech, 
1,45. 

Cheyenne, H.'s visit, 2, 293. 

Chicago, free silver meeting (1877), 2, 119; 
H.'s speech (1878), 261, 262. 

Chicago Times, on negro suffrage, 1, 317; 
on inflation issue in Ohio (1875), 392. 

Chicago Tribune, on H. and miners' strike 
(1876), 1, 439. 

Chickamauga, H. on battle, 1, 213. 

Child, F. J., on H.'s Cabinet appointments, 
2, 29 n. 

Children, Emerson on cultivation of im- 
agination, 1, 63 . 

Chilhngworth, William, H. on study, 1, 30. 

Chinese immigration. Republican platform 
on (1876), 1, 445; CaUfornia agitation 
against, 2, 211; Federal investigation, 212; 
demand for change in treaty, 212;, bill to 
restrict, 212; H.'s attitude and veto as 
violating treaty, 213-217; new treaty per- 
mitting exclusion, 217. 

Chiriqui Grant, and French Panama Canal, 

2, 219 n. 
Choate, Rufus, H. on, as poUtical speaker, 

1, 35; H. on career, 72 n. 
Cholera, in 1849, 1, 49, 54. 
Christiansburg, Va., Federal raid (1S64), 1, 

221. 
Cincinnati, economic and social Ufe (1850), 
1, 55, 56, 60; and slavery question then, 56; 
law^-ers then, .57; Literary Club, 58. .59, 62, 

2, .323; H.asCitySohcitor,!, 108, 109, 118, 
119; Know-Nothings and Repubhcans 
(18.59), 110; Lincoln's address (1859), HI; 
peace meeting (1860), 116; reception of 
Lincoln (1861), 118; Fort Sumter and first 
call for troops, 119-121: volunteer home 
company, 121; dangers from Kentucky 
(1S61), 121 n.; Liberal Convention (1S72), 
3(>(): Republican National Convention 
(1876), 441-153; H.'s visit (1877), 2, 247. 

Cincinnati Commercial, on H.'s Pearisburg 
raid, 1, 175 n.; on H. as officer, 21)2. 

Cincinnati Enquirer, on H.'s sound-money 
"hobby," 2, 263 n.; on Mrs. Hayes, 307 n. 



If 



INDEX 



457 



Cincinnati Gnzette, on H.'s candidacy for 
Governor (1S75), 1, 38G; on his attitude 
towards disputed election, 499. 
Cincinnati Literary Club, 1, 58, 59, 62; re- 
union at White House, 2, 323. 
Cincinnati Times, on H.'s candidacy for 

Governor (1S75), 1, 386. 
Cincinnati Tribune, tribute to H., 2, 408 n., 

409 n. 
Cipher Dispatches, deciphering, 2, 161 ; revela- 
tions on Florida and South Carolina, 162, 
163; effect, Tilden's denial of knowledge, 
163-167; congressional investigation, 165; 
political results, 168. 
Cities. See Local government. 
Ci\'il rights. Declaration of Independence on 
equahty, 1, 294, 2, 295; repeal of Ohio's 
black code, 1, 329; Lincoln's principles, 
2, 273; H. on influence of reconstruction 
measures, 281. See also Negroes, Recon- 
struction. 
Ci\'il Rights Bill, significance of Johnson's 

veto, 1, 285. 
Civil service, power of removal, 1, 43; H. 
on reform of State (1870), 340; on fixed 
salaries for State and local, 342; H. and re- 
form of State, 347; H. on need of Federal 
reform (1872), 371; H. and congressional 
patronage and dictation, 371, 461, 2, 70, 
73, 83, 84, 87, 90, 97, 106; Democratic 
spoils system in Ohio (1875), 1, 403; char- 
acter of H.'s appointments as Governor, 
410; Republican address on reform (1876), 
430; platforms on reform, 445, 467, 3, 73; 
H.'s letter of acceptance on reform, 1, 460, 
463, 475 n.; reform and single term of 
presidency, 461, 463, 2, 9, 378, 379; H. and 
political assessments during campaign, 
482; H.'s inaugural on, aphorism, 2, 8,9, 13; 
his reform plan, 69; underestimation of 
difficulties, 69; grip of spoils system, 69-71; 
earlier efforts for reform, commission 
under Grant, 71-73, 100-102; situation 
confronting H., 73, 74; field for executive 
reform measures, 74, 100; H.'s poUcy of 
appointments and removals, 75, 80, S3, 84, 
89, 108-110; H. and neporism, 76,420; re- 
form in departmental offices, 76, 102; in- 
vestigations of Now York Custom House, 
77, 91; reform order on custom houses, 
reception, 77-79 ; general order against 
political participation and assessments, 
pohtical effect, enforcement, attempted 
repudiation in Congress, 79, 85 re., 86 n., 
89-91, 103, 379; similar order under W. 
H. Harrison, 79 n.; H.'s messages on re- 
form, 83-85, 98-107; his efforts to revive 
commission, 85, 103, 105; removal of 
New York Custom-House officials, con- 
test in Senate, 85-94; H. and reformers, 
86 n., 88 ra.; reform in New York Post- 
office, 93, 96, 102; H. on correct princi- 
ples of pubfic ser'vice, 94, 99; reform or- 
ders to new New York custom officials, 
results, 95, 96 n., 102; results of H.'s 
reform policy, 95 /!., 107-111, 227, 
362 n., 403, 430; H. on public opinion 
and reform, 97; on competitive examina- 
tions, 98, 99, 102, 104, 105; reform ignored 
in 1880, 104; H. on repeal of Tenure-of- 
Office Act, 106; on use of patronage to 
influence legislation, 110 n.; his final ap- 
pointments, 327; Conkling-Garfield row, 
362 7!.; H. on progress of reform and 
his share in it (1884), 362 n.; on lesson 
of assassination of Gar^ eld, 364 n. ; on 
Arthur's message (1881), 365; on Cleveland 



and reform, 36S, 379; on Harrison's policy, 
374,375. 
Civil Service Commission, origin (1871), 2, 
71, lUl; failure to support, 72, 101, 102; 
H.'s efforts to revive, 85, 103, 105. 
Civil War, Fort Sumter and first call, en- 
thusiasm in Cincinnati, 1, 119-121; H.'s 
enfistment, 121-125; dangers to Cincin- 
nari (1861), 121 n.; organization and 
camp Ufe of 23d Ohio, 125-128; H. on 
first Bull Run, 127; Rosecrans' West Vir- 
ginia operations (1861), 128-143, 150- 
156; guerrillas in West Virginia, 130. 131, 
162-166, 170; H. on Confederate soldiers, 
138, 154; hardships, sickness, 139, 140, 
142; H. on false reports of suffering of 
Federal soldiers (1861), 144-146, 151, 152; 
Ball's Bluft", 146, 147; inactivity of Mc- 
Clellan, 147, 161, 165; H. on attitude of 
Southern people (1861), 151, 156; (1862), 
159, 164, 168, 169; Port Royal, 154; Fed- 
eral winter operations in West ^'irginia 
(1861-62), 154-161; Trent affair, 156; 
prices in South (1862), 158; Federal con- 
trol of We.st Virginia, 158; preparations 
for Tennessee campaign (1862), 158; 
contrabands in West Virginia, 158, 161, 
221 n.; need of cavalry in West Virginia 
operations, 159; Fr^n ont's department, 
164, 167, 168; Pea Ridge, 165; H.'s opti- 
mism (1862), 168, 169, 180-182; (1863), 
213; draft in South, 168, 169; Federal raid 
on Pearisburg and retreat (1862), 169-177; 
Cox's campaign around Flat Top Moun- 
tain, 176-187; H. on Peninsular operations, 
178, 180, 181; on pro-slavery Federal 
generals, 179; Cox's plan for holding East 
Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, 180; 
Morgan's raids (1862), 184; (1863), 210- 
212; n.arch of Cox's troops to Washing- 
ton, 188, 189; arm V arrangements at Wash- 
ington (1862), 189; H. on Second Bull 
Run and retreat, 189-192; Bragg's Ken- 
tucky campaign, 191-193 ; popularity of 
Eastern generals, 192; Antietam campaign, 
193-201; H. on changes in commands, 204; 
Stuart's Pennsylvania raid (1862), 204; 
Fredericksburg, 206; H. on emancipation, 
206; Federal fine in West Virginia (1863), 
207, 208, 213; H. on reaction favoring war 
policy, 208; on negro soldiers, 209; Jen- 
kins'" raid on Point Pleasant, 209; Federal 
raids against East Tennessee and Virginia 
Railroad (1863), 211, 214; (1864), 217- 
222; Hunter's VaOey campaign, 222-226; 
H. on final exertion of Confederacy, 226, 
227; Early's ccmpaign against Washing- 
ton, 227; Sheridan's command in the Valley, 
first movements, 227-238; Opequon, 238- 
246, 251; Fisher's Hill, 247-251; destruc- 
tion in the Valley, 252; Cedar Creek, 252- 
262; Richmond campaign, 270, 271^ H. 
on significance and commemoration (1868), 
350-352; on nationalism as outcome, 2, 
270-274, 202 n., 341; on Gettysburg and 
Lincoln, 255; H. and pensions, 338; H. 
and reunions, character of his speeches, 
338-343, 393; H. on larger results and com- 
plete success, 340 n., 341, 342, 343 n.; on 
gain of South through, 342; H. and Loyal 
Legion, 343-346. See also Peace Demo- 
crats, Reconstruction, Secession. 
Clark, Edward, and Washington Monu- 
ment, 2, 225 n. 
Clark, J. O., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 307 n. 
Clarke, J. E., from H. (1886) on Washington 
Monument, 2, 226 n. 



458 



INDEX 



Clarke, R. W., H. on, 1, 277. 

Clarkson, J. S., supports Blaine (1892), 3, 
376. 

Clay, Henry, H. on defeat (1844), 1, 100; 
and reconciliiilion with Calhoun, 2, 327 n. 

Clayton, Powell, fears for patronage under 
H., 1, 515. 

Clement, H. S., and 79th Regiment, 1, 185. 

Cleuimer, Mary, on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 299 n., 
300 n. 

Clendenin.Dr.W. M., in West Virginia (1861), 
1, 145. 

Cleveland, Grover, H. and pension vetoes, 2, 
339, 309, 373; and li. at Grant's funeral, 
359 n.\ H. on campaigns (1884), 367, 368; 
(1888), 370-373; (1892), 375-377; H. on, 
and civil service reform, 368, 379; H. on 
first administration, 368, 369, 374; H. on 
tariff message, 370 n.\ at Centennial of 
Washington's Inauguration, 336; at H.'s 
funeral, 399, 446; action criticized by 
partisan press, 399 n.\ Cleveland Hickory 
at Spiegel Grove, 446. 

Cleveland Leader, on H.'sPearisburg raid, 1, 
175 n. 

Clifford, Nathan, of Electoral Commission, 
1, 530 n. 

Clinch, Mary, witness in Summons case. If 
92 

Cloyd Mountain, battle, 1, 218-222. 

Clubs, Emerson on London, 1, 61. 

Cocknevism, Emerson on, 1, 62. 

Collier,"G. W., on fall of Richmond, 1, 270. 

Colombia, American canal negotiations 
(1880), 3, 224. See also Panama. 

Colorado, campaign (1876), 1, 484. 

Colquitt, A. H., welcomes H. (1877), 2, 250; 
Slater Fund, 352. 

Columbus, Ohio, farewell reception to H. 
(1877), 2, 3; H.'s speech (1880), 289-291. 

Comly, J. M., major of 23d Ohio, 1, 150; 
camp at Raleigh (1861-62), 157, 158, 160; 
return from leave of absence, 168; West 
Virginia operations (1862), 172, 173, 179, 
182, 183, 186; South Mountain, 200; An- 
tietam, 201; heutenant-colonel, 202; on 
Lincoln and colors of the 23d, 203; on Me- 
Kinley in Antietain campaign, 205 n. ; 
and Jenkins' raid (1863), 209; on railroad 
raid (1864), 221; on incident before Lynch- 
burg (1864), 224 /I.; on the retreat, 226 n.; 
on Kernstown, 230 n.\ on confidence in 
Sheridan and Crook, 233 n.; on incident 
at Berryville, 236 n.\ on Grant's lack of 
display, 238 n.; on charge at Opequon, 
244; on Fisher's Hill, 249 n., 250 n.\ on 
ignoring of Crook's corps by newspapers, 
250 n . ; on destruction in the Valley, 252 n. ; 
on Custer's defeat of Rosser, 253 n.; on 
Federal retreat at C^edar Creek, 255 n., 
256, 258; on Sheridan's arrival, 259; on 
Federal attack, 261; and H.'s interests 
during contested election, 519 n,, 2, 422; 
to H. (1879) on Grant's attitude towards 
candidacy, 236 n.; H.'s friendship, 422. 

Commerce. See Economic conditions, Rail- 
ways. 

Compromise, H.'s opposition (1861), If 117. 

Coiiustock, Leander, at college, 1, 27. 

Concord, N. U., H.'s speech (1877), 2, 244. 

Confederation, Story on weakness, 1, 42. 

Confeilerate soldiers, H. and rehef, 2, 239 n. 

Congress, Thirty-ninth: task, 1, 277; H. on 
Ohio delegation, 277; Republican caucus, 
joint committee on reconstruction, plan for 
representation based on suffrage, 278, 
279; suflrage in District and Territories, 



279; H. on .Johnson and, 279, 280, 284,285; 
H.'s defense of reconstruction policy, 280, 
283-288; H.'s analysisof pohcy. Fourteenth 
Amendment, 2S7, 308; Reconstruction 
Acts, 310, 311. 

FoTly-fourIk: failure of Army Appropria- 
tion Bill, 2, 81; Chinese immigration, 212. 
See also Election of 1876. 

Forty-fifth: opposition to H.'s Southern 
pohcy, 2, 16, 43; Senate opposition to Cab- 
inet appointments, 23-29; extra session, 
81; complexion, 81; special message, 82; 
Republican opposition to H., reasons, 82, 
83; message on civil service reform, 83; 
Senate contest over New York Custom 
House removals, 86-94; Bli.nd Silver 
Bill, 115, 120, 124-126; attempt to repeal 
Resumption Act, 115, 129; messages on 
resumption and free silver, 115-119, 131; 
concurrent resolution for payment of bonds 
in silver, 128; repeal of retirement of 
greenbacks, 129; movement for election 
fraud investigation, Maryland memorial, 
146-148, 156 n.; House resolution for in- 
quiry, 150-157; testimony before Potter V 
Committee, 157-161; Cipher Dispatches, 
165; contest over appropriation bills, 
riders, 170-173, 190-192; Democratic pol- 
icy of coercion through refusing suppUes, 
172; mes.^age on enforcement of war 
amendments, 174-176; Chinese immigra- 
tion, 212-217. 

Forty-sixth: messages on civil service re- 
form, 2, 98-107; messages on resumption, 
silver, retirement of greenbacks, 133-137; 
Refunding Bill, veto, 137-140; special ses- 
sion on appropriation bills, 173; com- 
plexion, 177; message at special session, 
177; Democratic programme of coercion 
through riders, 178; H.'s determination 
to resist this, 179-185; vetoes of appropria- 
tion biUs with riders on reconstruction 
measures, 185-195, 197-203, 205 n.; veto 
of separate bill on use of army during 
election, 195-197; Democratic backdown, 
199, 204; act forbidding use of troops at 
polls as police force, 200, 201 n.; Panama 
Canal, 218-222, 224; Ponca Indians, 332. 

Conkling, A. R., at Southern dinner in New 
York (1889), 2, 387 n. 

Conkling, Roscoe, H. on, in Congress (1865), 
1,278 n.; candidacy for presidential nom- 
ination (1876), character, 418; and reform- 
ers, 431; Curtis on candidacy, 434; prob- 
able results of nomination, 435 71.-43S ti.; 
speech nominating, 446; in Vjalloting, 
449-452; conduct during campaign, post- 
election emis.sary to H., 506 (!., 514-516; 
and formation of H.'s Cabinet, opposition 
to confirmation, 515, 2, 16, 24, 2'j, 235 n.; 
attitude in electoral count contest, 1, 
521 n., 524; contest over removal of New 
York Custom House officials, 2, 86-94: 
general opposition, 227, 228, 235; and 
Grant's candidacy (l^iSO), 234, 237 n., 
239 n.; H. on character (l<sS8), 235 n.; 
and nomination of Arthur, 238, 239; H. on 
Garfield row, 362 n. ; H. on Arthur and 
(1S81), 362, 364; H. on hatred as certificate 
of good character, 429 n. 

Conover, S. B., fears for patronage under H., 
1, 515; and appointment of McLin, 2, 149. 

Constantin, Grand Duke, dinner at Whit« 
House, 2f 312 n. 

Constitutions, H. on tendency to over regu- 
lation, 1, 341. jSee also Federal Constitu- 
tion. 



INDEX 



459 



Contrabands, H. on, in West Virginia, 1, 
loS, 161, 221 n. 

Conway. M. D., H.'a friendship, 2, 421. 

Cook, Isaac [1], Revolutionary soldier, 1, 
78 re. 

Cook, Isaac [2], Revolutionary soldier, 1, 
78 n. 

Cook, Isaac [3], career, 1, 77, 78 n. 

Cook, Isaac [4], at H.'s wedding, 1, 81. 

Cook, Maria [Mrs. James Webb], 1, 77. 

Cooper, Edward, and Cipher Dispatches, 2, 
106. 

Copperheads, H. on reaction against, 1, 208. 
See also Peace Democrats. 

Corbin, D. T., and Matthews' letter to Cham- 
berlain (1877), 2, 43. 

Corbin, H. C, at H.'s funeral, 2, 399. 

Corcoran, W. W., and Washington Monu- 
ment, 2, 226 71.; and H., 312 n. 

Cornell, A. B., on expected Republican suc- 
cess (1876), 1, 495; conduct during cam- 
paign, 506; and H.'s reform order, 2, 85; 
contest over removal, 85-94. 

Corruption, H. on, at elections, 1,332; in local 
sdnunistration, 344, 404; legislative, as 
issue in Ohio (1875), 389 «.; address of Re- 
pubUcan reformers (1876), 430. 

Corrv, W. M., and Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
1, 105. 

Corwin, Thomas, as speaker, 1, 32; campaign 
for Governor (1840), 98; and Kentucky, 
352. 

Corwine, R. M., H.'a law partner, 1, 94; H. 
on, as major, 147. 

Covington, S. F., suggests H. for President, 
1, 422. 

Cowles, Edwin, from H. (1876) on presiden- 
tial candidacy, 1, 432; on candidacy of 
Blaine and H., 453 n. 

Cox, J. D.jinWest Virginia campaign (1861), 
1, 135, 136, 139; H. on (1S62), 164; in Fre- 
mont's army, 164; West Virginia opera- 
tions (1862), 176; escapes capture, 176 n.; 
as reader, ISO; plan for holding Knoxville- 
Richmond railroad (1862), ISO; march to 
Washington, 188, 189; and Reno-Hayes 
incident, 194 7!.-19() n.\ in Antietam cam- 
paign, 196; South Mountain, 198; on 23d 
Ohio at South Mountain, 200; commands 
corps, 200; message to H. after South 
Mountain, 201; to H. on colonelcy, 202; 
return to West Virginia, 204; candidacy 
for Governor (1865), 276: as Governor, 
290; to H. (1876) on disputed election, 
498 n.; consulted on H.'s Cabinet, 2, 17; 
of Potter Committee (1878), 157; at re- 
union of 23d Ohio (1877), 247; H.'s friend- 
ship, 422. 
Coxe, Magrane, at Southern dinner in New 

York (1SS9), 2, 387 n. 
Coyle, J. F., Cipher Dispatches, 2, 162. 
Craig, J. M., on Opequon, 1, 243 n. 
Crane, Capt. , in West Virginia (1861), 

1, 152. 

Crapo, W. W., and French Panama Canal, 

2, 224. 

Crime. See Punishment. 

Critt«nden Compromise, H.'s opposition, 1, 
117. 

Croghan, George, Ft. Stephenson fight, 2, 
330. 

Croghan, St. George, killed, 1, 153, 154. 

Cronin, E. A., and disputed^election in Ore- 
gon, 1, 508 n. 

Crook, George, West Virginia operations 
(1862), 1, 182; on Reno-Hayes incident, 
195 n.; South Mountain, 198; cocuuands 



Kanawha forces, 215; raid on East Ten- 
nessee and Virginia Railroad (1864), Floyd 
Mountain, 217-222; Valley campaign un- 
der Hunter, 222-226; independent com- 
niand, 226; return to lower Shenandoah, 
228; Kernstown, 229, 230; under Wright, 
230; H. on forces under, 237; Opequon, 
239-246, 251; Fisher's Hill, 247-251; 
Cedar Creek, 254-262, 264; winter quar- 
ters, 263; vote (1864), 264; and promotion 
of H., 265; capture, 267, 268 u.; exchange, 
268; in final Richmond campaign, 268, 
270, 271; Indian campaigns, 2, 228; Poaca 
Indian Commission, 231 n.; H.'s friend- 
sliip, 421; praise of H., 431 7i. 
Crook, W. H., on Winnie Monroe, 2, 301 n.; 

on Mrs. Hayes' Christmas giving, 311 n. 
Crump, W. T., as steward of White House, 

2, 301. 
Cullom, S. M., veto of Illinois silver legal 
tender bill, 2, 114 n.; entertains H. (1879), 
282. 
Cumback, W. M., withdraws Morton's name 

(1876), 1, 451. 
Currency. See Inflation, Paper money, Re- 
sumption, Silver. 
Curry, J. L. M., Slater Fund, 2, 353; at H.'a 

funeral, 400. 
Curtis, G. W., on condition of Republican 
party (1876), 1, 415 n.; on Sherman's ad- 
vocacy of H.'s nomination, 426 7i.; corre- 
spondence with Dickson on H. and Stal- 
warts, 434, 435 71.; reform address in Re- 
pubUcan Convention, 444; seconds Bris- 
tow's nomination, 446; on H.'s letter of 
acceptance, 466 7i.; on Democratic plat- 
form, 467; H.'s campaign correspondent, 
470 n.; on H.'s conduct during campaign, 
470 7!.; on doubt of election. 492 7i.; on H.'s 
and Tililen's conduct during disputed elec- 
tion, 499 n.; and Conkling, 515; on elec- 
toral count, 534 n.; on H.'s inaugural, 2, 
15 n.; on Senate opposition to Cabinet 
appointments, 28 n.; Civil Service Com- 
mission, 72; on congressional opposition 
to H. (1877), 83 n.; from H. (1877) on 
loyalty to reform, 88 n.; on H. and civil 
service reform, 96 n„ 111 n.; on Tilden and 
Cipher Dispatches, 167 n.; on attempt to 
repeal Federal election laws, 181; on H. 
and contest with Congress, 205 n. ; from H. 
(1892) on term of presidency, 378, 379. 
See also Harper's Weekly. 
Curtis, S. R., Pea Ridge, 1, 165. 
Custer, G. A., defeat of Rosser, 1, 253; Cedar 
Creek, 254. 

Dana, C. A., on H. as presidential possibility 
(1875), 1, 424; on prospects of H.'s nomi- 
nation (1876), 439, 440. See- also New 
York Sun. 

D.i.na, R. H., Jr., on Harvard Law School un- 
der Greenleaf and Story, 1, 31; lecture on 
loyalty, 36; seconds nomination ol bristow 
(1876), 446; on H.'s letter of acceptance, 
463 71. 

Danes, battle of Loncart, 1, 1, 2. 

Darrall, C. B., and J. E. Anderson, 2, 158. 

Dartmouth College case, Webster's speech, 
1, 45; H. on, as a mistake, 2, 384. 

Davis, David, and Liberal nomination (1872), 

1, 366; and Electoral Commission, 529, 
537; and commission to Louisiana (1877), 

2, 45. 

Davis, Mrs. Eliza G., from H. (1892) on de- 
parted friends, 2, 396 n. 
Davis, J. C. B., H. on appointment, 2, 89 n. 



460 



INDEX 



Davis, Mrs. J. C. B., at dinner with H., 3, 
327 n. 

Davis, John, entertains H. (1877), 2, 248; 
at H.'s silver wedding, 318; H.'a friendship, 
421. 

Davis, Noah, at Southern dinner in New 
York (1SS9), 2, 387 n. 

Dawes, E. C, on plundering by Cox's divi- 
sion, 1, 195 n.; at H.'s funeral, 2, 400. 

Dawes, H. L., tribute to H., 2, 407, 408. 

Day, Alfred, in Pearisburg raid (1S02), 1, 
172. 

Day, T. C, and Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
1, 105. 

Dayton, unveiling of soldiers' monument, 
H.'s speech, 2, 246. 

Debating, interest of H., 1, 22. 

Debt. See Public debt. 

Declaration of Independence, Story on en- 
actment, 1, 41; H. on equahty of rights as 
essence, 294, 2, 295. 

De Forest, J. W., on Opequon, 1, 244. 

Defrees, J. D., H. on appointment, 2, 89 n. 

Delano, Columbus, H. on, 1, 277. 

Delaware, Ohio, Hayes family, 1, 6. 

Delay, A. W., on H.'s staff, 1, 240 n. 

Deming family in Vermont, Russell ances- 
tr>-, 1, 8 n. 

Democratic party, H. on character (1852), 

1, 102. See also Congress, Elections, Peace 
Democrats. 

Dennis, L. G., " confessions" of Florida Re- 
turning Board, 2, 149. 

Dennison, H. M., fugitive-slave case, 1, 94, 
95. 

Dennison, WilUam, campaign for Governor 
(1859), 1, 110; mihtarj- commissions for 
Matthews and H., 124, 125; re\iews 23d 
Regiment, 128; correspondence with H. 
during disputed election, 497, 516, 529 n.; 
conference with Southerners on H.'s pol- 
icy, 534. 

Denver, H.'s visit, 2, 293. 

Depew, C. M., H. on presidential candidacy 
(1888), 2, 370-372; at Southern dinner in 
New York (1889), 387 n. 

Detroit, H.'s speech (1879), 2, 276-281. 

Devens, Charies, Ball's Bluff, 1, 146; appomt^ 
ment to H.'s Cabinet, 2, 22; confirmed, 28; 
character as member of Cabinet, 31; and 
Southern poUcy, 45; and Bland Silver Bill, 
123; and veto of Army Appropriation Bill, 
186 n.; entertains H. at home, 242; visit to 
Montpehcr, 264 n.; humor, 303 n., 304 n.; 
social relations with H., 310 n. 

Devol, H. F., proposes H. for Governor, 1, 
274. 

Dexter, Samuel, on Hamilton, 1, 42; and 
Hamilton's financial argument, 45. 

Diaz, Porfirio, and United States (1876-81) , 

2, 209, 210. „ , . 
Dibble, Abigail [Mrs. George Hayes], 1, 3. 
Dickens, Charles, 1, 70 ; 2, 437 n. 

Dickinson, ,Wheeler's .secretary, 2, 310 n. 

Dickson, W. M., and first-call meeting in 

Cincinnati, 1, 120; Curtis correspondence 
(1876) on H.'s candidacy for nomination, 
434, 435 n.-138 7i.; and Lincoln, 436 n.\ 
on poHtical morals, 438 n.; H.'s friend- 
ship, 2, 421. , , ^.„ 

Disney, D. T., and Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
1, 105. 

Disney, WilUam, on H.'s election as Oity 
SoUcitor, 1, 108 n. 

Disraeli, Benjamin, Emerson on, 1, 65. 

District of Columbia, Congress and suffrage 
(1866), 1, 279. 



Dix, J. A., and reconstruction, 1, 283. 

Dodge, W. E., Slater Fund, 2, 352. 

Donaldson, Thomas, from H. (1891) on ex- 
penses in White House, 2, 315 n. 

Dorsey, G. V., War Democrat, 1, 301. 

Dorsey, S. W., fears for patronage, 515. 

Dorsheimer, Wilham, on search of H.'s rec- 
ord, 1, 473. 

Douglas, S. A., H. on Pierce and Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill, 1, 105; Party of Perma- 
nency, 110; H. on campaign of ISOO, 115, 
116; on Civil War, 301, 323; H. on (1880), 
2, 283. 

Douglass, Frederick, and H.'s Southern pol- 
icy, 2, 11 n. ; appointment as Federal mar- 
shal, 44; on Mrs. Hayes, 317 n. 

Downing, Ohver, from H. (1&S9) on aid for 
Confederate veterans, 2, 339 n. 

Draft in South, enforcement and refugees, 
1, 168, 169. 

Drake, J. L., in West Virginia operations 
(1S61), 1, 138 71.; (1862), 182, 1S3; in 
Pearisburg raid (1862), 173, 174, 177; raid 
on salt works, 187; South Mountain, 199. 

Dred Scott decision, and Repubhcan party, 
1, 113. 

Dresbach, , Cincinnati physician, 1, 48. 

Dubhn, Va., Federal raid (1864), 1, 219. 

Duluth, H.'s investments, 1, 379. 

Dunlevy, J. C, and 79th Ohio, 1, 187. 

Dunning's Continentals, in West Virginia 
(18G1), 1, 134. 

Du Pont, H. A., at Cedar Creek, 1, 256, 261. 

Dutton, A. R., at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Duval, I. H., Opequon, wounded, 1, 241, 245. 

Earlv, J. A., pursuit of Hunter (1S64), 1, 
224, 225; Washington campaign, 227-229; 
Kernstown, 229; Valley movements, 232, 
235-238; Opequon, 238-246; Fisher's Hill, 
247-251; advance, 253; Cedar Creek, 253- 
262. 

East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, Fed- 
eral movements and plans against (1862), 

1, 173, 180; Federal raids (1863), 211, 214; 
(1864), 217-222. 

Eaton, D. B., on H.and civil service reform, 

2, 107 n. 

Economic conditions, H.'s inaugural on de- 
pression, 2, 9; H. on returning prosperity, 
257-259, 269, 277, 283; on labor condi- 
tions and excessive wealth, 381-385. See 
also Finances, Railways. 

Edmunds, G. F., Electoral Commission Bill, 
1, 524, 525 n. ; of Electoral Commi.ssion, 
530 «.; on justice of H.'s election, 535 n.; to 
H. (1877) on opposition in Senate, 2, 28 n.; 
presidential candidacy (1880), 237; (1884). 
366. 

Education, Sparks on colonial, 1, 33; H. on, 
and suffrage, 318; sectarian interference 
with public schools as issue in Ohio (1875), 
387-391; H.'s speech on issue, 397-101; 
effect of parochial schools, 398; Republican 
platform on grants to sectarian (1876), 
445; H.'s letter of acceptance on this, 461; 
H.'s efforts for Federal aid, especially in 
South, 2, S, 288-292, 293 n., 349-351, 365, 
368; H. .and Indian, 228, 291; Jefferson and 
Madison on pubUc, 292; universal, as es- 
sence of Ordinance of 1787, 296; H. and 
Peabody and Slater funds, 350-354; H. 
and college courses, 35(); his advocacy of 
manual training, 356, 3.57. 

Edwards, Jonathan, Sparks on character, 
1,33. 



1^. 



i, 



INDEX 



461 



Egoileston, Benjamin, and nomination of H. 
for Governor (1875), 1, 385; and H.'a presi- 
dential candidacy, 443 n. 

Eggleston, Edward, on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 317 n. 

Eighth Corps. See Croolc. 

Eighty-ninth Ohio, pranli of 23d Ohio on, 1, 
205. 

Election laws. See Federal election laws. 

Election of 187C, campaign: Democratic 
search of H.'s record, slanders, 1, 379 n., 
473-475, 485; Ohio RepubUcan platform 
on third term (1875), 387; Oliio election 
(1875) as skirmish, 3S9, 391 n.; Ohio cam- 
paign and H.'s candidacy, 405-407, 423- 
425; real contest for Republican nomina- 
tion, 414; condition of Republican party, 
causes, 414-417; of Democratic party, 
417; character of Republican aspirants, 
Blaine, 418; Conkhng, 418; Morton, 419; 
Bristow, 419: room for available candidate, 
H. as such. 420, 431, 433 n., 437 n., 438, 
439, 447, 453; Sherman's letter advocating 
H.'s nomination, reception, 420, 426; H.'s 
attitude (1869-76), 421-426; H. as pas- 
sive candidate only, 425, 427, 429, 429 n., 
431-438, 441 n.: doubtful States and can- 
didates, Republican ticket forecast, 426; 
H. on sound money as issue, 427,428, 429 n. ; 
H. on Republican prospects (March), 
429; New York conference and address of 
RepubUcan reformers, 430, 437 n.\ Ohio 
endorses H.'s candidacy, 431, 432, 441; 
H. on Blaine's candidacy, 432; Curtis- 
Dickson correspondence on H. and Stal- 
warts, 434, 435 n.\ H. and independents, 
435 n., 436 n.\ choice of Cincinnati for 
convention, 441; H. and vice-presidential 
nomination, 442; H. as general second 
choice, 442, 443, 454 n.\ attitude of Ohio 
delegation, 442 ; opening of Republican 
Convention, platform, 443-445, 2, 73, 221; 
nominating speeches, 1, 44.5-448; ballot- 
ing, 448-452; nomination of H., 452; vice- 
presidential nomination, 452; wisdom of 
RepubUcan ticket, 453; management of 
H.'s forces in convention, 453 n.; his atti- 
tude during convention, 454; and on nomi- 
nation, 454, 456, 458; H. urges campaign 
without personalities, 459 ; notification, 
H.'s reply, 455, 456; popular reception of 
nomination, 456; his letter of acceptance, 
civil service reform, resumption, South, 
459-465, 468, 2, 73; reception of letter, 1, 
465, 466; Democratic Convention and 
candidates, 466; platform, 467; Tilden's 
letter of acceptance, 467; Democratic drift, 
469; Tilden's conduct during campaign, 
469 n.\ H.'s conduct, 470; Chandler as 
RepubUcan manager, 471-473; H. and 
ci\'il service reform issue, assessments, 
475 n., 482; South as issue, 478, 481 n., 
484, 490; H.'s attitude towards prospects, 
478, 479, 479 n., 480 n., 483, 484, 486, 489, 
490; October elections, use of money, 478- 
481, 484-186; possible RepubUcan States 
in South, 485; H. on possible contest and 
Republican loss through fraud, 486, 488; 
H. at Centennial, 480-488; H. on probable 
electoral vote, 489. 

Dispute: significance of settlement of dis- 
pute, H. on this, 1, 491, 535 n., 2, 10, 11, 
14; H.'s conduct during post-election days, 
1, 491-500; probable effect on South of 
Democratic victory, 493, 494 n., 508; H. 
and \q.siting statesmen, his attitude on 
honest count, 495 n., 498 n., 500; rumor of 
nonpartisan electoral vote by Lowell, H. on i 



this, 499, 500; Lowell on it, 500 n.; H. and 
legal determination of vote, 500-502; H.'s 
conviction of RepubUcan success, reports 
of visiting statesmen on Louisiana, 502- 
504, 506, 507, 508 n., H. and Southern 
emissaries, 504, 505, 516 n.; attempt to 
aUenate Grant from H., 505, 506 n.; H. on 
Oregon contest, 508, 509; investigation in 
Congress, 509; problem of right to count 
the vote, 509, 513; H. and contest in Con- 
gress, 511-513; H.and Stalwart emissary, 
refusal to commit himself, 514-516; H. 
and question of personal representative 
at Washington, 516-519; attitude of Grant, 
516 71., 519 n.; claim of the House, 518 n.; 
pubUc demand for settlement of dispute, 
519; influences on, and attitude of. South- 
ern Congressmen, 520, 532 n.; H.'s refusal 
of commitments on South, 520; RepubU- 
can opposition to compromise and Com- 
mission, 521, 526 71., 529 n., H.'s attitude 
on same, 522-524, 524 n., 525 n., 527, 528; 
Schurz on advantages of Commission, 
523 n. ; Commission Bill and debate, 524- 
527; limitation to authority of Commission, 
525; Grant on Commission, 527; fifth jus- 
tice, Da\'is, Bradley, 529, 530; members 
of Commission, 530 n.; decisions, refusal 
to go behind the returns, 530-532; H. on 
Florida decision, 531 n.; attempted fili- 
buster. 532; conference of Southerners and 
H.'s friends, assurance on Southern policy, 
question of bargain, 533, 534, 2, 66, 67; 
justice of Commission's decisions, H.'s 
conviction of legaUty and fairness of elec- 
tion, 1, 535-540, 2, 144; significance of 
party action in 1880, 1, 539, 2, 168, 238, 
239, 369, 370; results and State govern- 
ments in Louisiana and South CaroUna, 
35, 63, 63 n.; consistency of H.'s Southern 
policy with electoral count, 38^0; Federal 
offices for Returning Board officials and 
visiting statesmen, 108; Democratic fraud 
issue, 142; prosecution of Louisiana Re- 
turning Board, 143; charges of bargains 
with returning boards, 145, 150, 157-160; 
movement for congressional inquiry(187S), 
146, 148; Marj-land memorial on fraud, 
146-148, 156 n.; pubUc alarm over reopen- 
ing of question, 148; Democratic resolu- 
tions for House inquiry, 150, 151; H. on 
threat of investigation, 150 n.; debate on 
resolutions, 151; RepubUcan address on 
partisan and revolutionary purpose, 1 52 ; H. 
and Key on revolutionary purpose, 152 n., 
154, 155 n.; Democratic opposition to in- 
vestigation, 153; Potter on purpose, 153, 
154; denial of purpose to impeach H.'s 
title, 156, 157; members of Potter Com- 
mittee, 157; testimony, 157-161; pubUca- 
tion of Democratic cipher dispatches, 161; 
their revelation on Florida and South 
CaroUna, 162, 163; effect of revelation, Til- 
den's denial of knowledge, 163-166: Potter 
Committee investigation of dispatches, 
165; results of Potter Committee, 167- 
169; H. on verdict of election of 1878, 268. 
Elections, H. and date of State, in presiden- 
tial years, 1, 412, 483, 484 n. — (1840) 
in Ohio, 1, 26; H. on campaign, 97, 98. — 
(1844) speakers in Mass. campaign, 34, 
35, 40, 44; sectional skirmish at Harvard, 
41; H. on and in campaign, 99, 100. — ■ 
(1848) H. in campaign, 100. — (1852) H. 
on and in campaign, 101-104. — (18.56) 
H. on and in campaign, 106, 107. — (1860) 
H. on campaign, 115, 116. — (1S62) H. 



462 



INDEX 



on results, 204. — (1864) importance of 
Shenandoah operations, 233; H. on nomi- 
nation of McClellan, 233 n., 236-238; H. 
and congressional nomination, candidacy 
of soldiers, 234, 235 n.; Lincoln's election 
expected, 252; army voting, 263; H. on 
Democratic keynote, 304-306. — (18C7) 
in Ohio, Democratic platform, 290; H.'s 
candidacy for Governor, 291, 292; Repub- 
lican platform, 292; is.sue, 293, 320; H.'s 
speeches, 293-327; election of H., 327, 
328. — (1868)111. on Seymour's nomination 
331. — (18(39) in Ohio, H.'s renomination, 
and speech on suffrage and financial i.ssues, 
334-337; Democratic platform and candi- 
date, election of H., 338. — (1S71) in Ohio, 
H.'s speech on Democratic "new depar- 
ture," 354-361. — (1872) H. on Liberal 
convention, 1, 366 ; on Greeley as candidate, 
367; on Republican convention, 367; on 
prospects, 367, 368; his speech on issue, 
369-372; on Republican success, 375, 376. 
— (1873) in Ohio, 380. — (1874) in Ohio, 
381. — (1875) in Ohio, H.'s nomination 
for Governor, 382-387; inflation and 
school issues, 387, 391, 392; H.'s prepara- 
tion for campaign, 389-391; his speeches, 
392-405; other RepubUcan speakers, 
405; election of H., 405-407; H. in Penn- 
sylvania campaign, 407. — (1876). See 
above. — (1877) H. on, 2, 82, 89 n., 90. — 
(1878) H. on, 131, 267. — (1880) relation 
of candidates to election of 1876 and H.'s 
administration, 1, 539, 2, 168, 238, 239; 
civil service reform ignored, 104; Demo- 
cratic nianceuvres for an issue, 171, 185; 
H.'s attitude, 233; Republican aspirants, 
H. on them, 233 n., 234-237; Grant's atti- 
tude (1879), 235 n., 236 n.; voting in 
Republican Convention, Garfield's nomi- 
nation, 237; H. on convention and nomi- 
nation, 237 n., 239; Republican platform 
on H.'s administration, 238; H. and cam- 
paign, 288, 297; result as vindicating H.'s 
administration, 298, 369, 370. — (1884) 
H. on campaign and results, 366-368. — 
(1888) H. and candidacy, 369; H. on cam- 
paign and results, 370-373. — (1889) in 
Ohio, 374, 375. — (1890) H. on congres- 
sional, 375.' — (1892) H. on campaign, 
375-377. 

Electoral Commission. See Election of 1876. 

Eliot, C. W., on H.'s Cabinet appointments, 
2, 29 n. 

Eliot, W. G., to H. (1877) on Louisiana con- 
ditions, 2, 46 n.-49 n. 

Elizabeth of Ipswich (1634), 1, 8. 

Ellen, ,1, S., on H. and march to Washington 
(1862), 1, 188; on South Mountain,_200 n. 

Elliot, , and sectional feeling at Kenyon 

(1839), 1, 26. 

Emancipation, H. on policy, 1, 206; develop- 
ment of policy, 301; opposition of Peace 
Democrats, 302-306. See aUo Negroes, 
Slavery, Thirteenth Amendment. 

Emerson, R. W., lectures in Cincinnati, 
H. on, as lecturer, 1, 61, 64; H. on appear- 
ance, 61; H. on conversations, 61-63, 65; 
talk on London clubs, 61; on English gen- 
tlemen, 61; on Macaulay, 02, 63, 65; on 
Prince Albert, 02; H. on his philosophv, 
62, 63, 65, 66; on Beecher, 62; on Bushnell, 
62; on London society, 62; on Carlyle and 
cockneyism, 62, 03, 65; on lack of imagi- 
native Americans, 63; on autobiographical 
character of all imaginative writings. Sand, 
Shakespeare, 63; on cultivating imagina- 



tion in children, 63; H. on leadincr ideas, 
64; on Disraeli, 65; influence of writings on 
H., 2, 433. 

Emory, W. H. See Nineteenth Corps. 

English-American Colonies, Sparks' lecture 
on, 1, 33. 

Equality of rights, as essence of Declaration 
of Independence, 1, 294, 2, 295; as idea of 
Civil War, 343. 

Evarts, W. M., argument before Electoral 
Commission, 1, 531 n.; on popular accep- 
tance of decision of disputed election, 
535 n.; appointment to H.'s Cabinet, 2, 17, 
19; opposition to confirmation, 24-29, 82, 
362 n.; character as member of Cabinet, 
29; and Matthews' letter to Chamberlain, 
42, 44; and Southern policy, 45; instruc- 
tions to commission to Louisiarui, .54-56; 
and civil service reform, 76; and Bland 
Silver Bill, 123; on H.'s contest with Con- 
gress, 173 n., 185 n., 186 n., 205 n.; and 
Halifax Award, 208; and Mexico. 210; 
and Chinese immigration, 214-210; and 
French Panama Canal, 221 n., 224; and 
resignation of Thompson, 223; entertains 
H. at Windsor, 242; in H.'s Southern trip 
(1877), 248 n.; humor, 304 n.\ social rela- 
tions with H., 305; at dinner with H., 
327 n.; Peabody Education Fund, 351; at 
Southern dinner;in New York (1889) , 387 n. 

Evidence, Story on, 1, 32. 

Ewing, Hugh, in West Virginia campaign 
(1S61), 1, 137; treatment of soldiers, 146; 
on Haves-Reno incident, 194; commands 
brigade, 200. 

Ewing, Thomas [1], on H. as lawyer, 1, 91; 
case with H., 92, 93; asks withdrawal of 
Emancipation Proclamation, 437 n. 

Ewing, Thomas [2], candidacy for presiden- 
tial nomination (1876), 1, 437 n. 

Examinations, H. on, in ci\'il service, 2, 98, 
99, 102, 104, 105. 

Exhibitions, H. on college, 1, 23. 

Fair Oaks, battle, 1, 178. 

Farrer, Nancy, H.'s defense, 1, 86-91. 

Favetteville, W. Va., Federal winter quar- 
ters (1861), 1, 153-156. 

Federal Constitution, Story on Abolitionists 
and, 1, 36; on ratification debates, settled 
questions, power of removal, annexation, 
postal monopoly, 43; Story and strict 
construction, 43; H. on Madison and, 2, 
264, 265; on essence, 296. See also Amend- 
ments by number. 

Federal election laws. Democratic attempts 
to repeal through riders (45th Congress), 
2, 170-173; arguments on, 171, 172; H.'s 
attitude, 173-177, 182, 183, 198; renewal 
of Democratic programme (46th Con- 
gress), 178; H.'s plan to resist coerced re- 
peal, 179-185; State rights and propo.sed 
repeal, 181, 185; modified bills as riders, 
vetoes, 198, 205 n. ; veto of bills forbidding 
appropriation to execute, 200-204; r(>fusal 
of appropriation for, 204 ; failure of Demo- 
cratic programme, 204. See also Voting. 

Fenton, R. E., International Silver Confer- 
ence, 2, 127 n. 

Ferry, T. W., social relations with H., 2, 
310 n. 

Fessenden, W. P., of Committee on Library 
(1866), 1, 281. 

Fiction, Emerson on autobiographical char- 
acter, 1, 63; H.'s reading, 70; H. on loose, 
71 n., 79. 

Field, D. D., and disputed election, 2, 147. 






W: 



INDEX 



463 



Field, S. J., of Electoral Commission, 1, 530 n. 

Fifteenth Amendment, attitude of Oiiio 
parties, 1, 334, 338: Grant on, 335; rati- 
fied by Ohio, 346; H. on significance and 
results (1S70), 353, 3M; (1872), 3(59; Demo- 
cratic opposition (1871), 358-361 ; and Fed- 
eral election laws, 2, 188. See also Recon- 
struction, Suffrage. 

Fifth Ohio, in West Virginia campaign (1861), 
1, 134. 

Fifth Virginia (Federal), in West Virginia 
(1863), 1, 208; (1864). 217, 221; Opequon, 
244. 

Fifty-firat Virginia, in West Virginia (1862), 
1, 184. 

Finances, H. on reaction (1869), 1, 335; on 
Democratic legislation in Ohio, 335; on 
improvement under Grant (1S72), 370; 
on cycle of conditions, 278. See also Bank- 
ing, Bonds, Economic conditions, Inflation, 
Paper money, Public debt. Resumption, 
Taxation. 

Finck, W. E., and Iron-clad Oath, 1, 284. 

Fish, Hamilton, and inauguration of H., 2, 
5 n.; on Tilden and Cipher Dispatches, 
165 n.; Peabody Education Fund, 351. 

Fisher's Hill, battle, 1, 217-251. 

Fitzhugh, Henry, in West Virginia (1862), 1, 
171. 

Flat Top Mountain, W. Va., Federal camp 
(1862), 1, 176-182. 

FlickUn, A. M., confidence in Southern suc- 
cess (1861), 1, 151. 

Florida, Federal protection in election of 
1876, 1, 489 n.; and electoral count, 496, 
504; decision of Electoral Commission, 
530; H. on decision, 531 n.; overthrow of 
carpetbag government, 2, 34; charge of 
bargain with Returning Board, 149, 159, 
160; Cipher Dispatches, 162. 

Floyd, J. B., West Virginia operations (1861), 

1, 135-138, 150, 151. 

Flynn, Jacob, fugitive-slave case, 1, 94. 

Foley. C. F., guerrilla in West ^'irginia, agree- 
ment of men, 1, 162 n., 170. 

Foote, A. H., Russell ancestry, 1, 8 n 

Foraker, J. B., H. on candidacy and charac- 
ter (1889), 2, 374, 375; supports Blaine 
(1892), 376. 

Forbes, J. M., considered for H. s Cabmet, 

2, 17. 

Force, M. F., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 57; 
from H. (1866) on Congress and recon- 
struction, 280; (1872) on candidacy for 
Congress, 368; (1873) on real estate ven- 
tures and public librar>', 377; on Sardis 
Birchard, 378; correspondence with H. 
(1875) on presidential candidacy, 425; 
consulted on H.'s Cabinet, 2, 17; from H. 
(1877) on New York Custom House con- 
test, 87 n.; H.'s offer of private-secre- 
taryship, 302; at H.'s silver wedding, 318, 
319; at H.'s funeral, 400; H.'s friendship, 
321 n., 421. 

Force, Peter, H. and government purchase 
of collection, 1, 281, 282 n. 

Ford, T. H., on sufferings of soldiers, 1, 145; 
on reported dismissal after Antietam cam- 
paign, 204. 

Foreign relations, H. on American policy, 
2, 10; on his appointments to missions, 
89 n.; Halifax Award, 208; Mexican raiders 
and pursuit over border, 20S-211; Chi- 
nese immigration, 212-218; Panama Canal, 
218-224. 

Forest Grove Indian School, beginning, 2, 
229. 



Forney, J. W., to H. (1S76) on conduct dur- 
ing disputed election, 1, 517 n. 

Forsyth, J. W., Opequon, 1, 241; Cedar 
Creek, 260. 

Fortv-fifth Virginia, West Virginia opera- 
tions (1862), 1, 172. 

Foster, Charles, and nomination of H. for 
Governor (1S75), 1, 385; and H.'s letter 
of acceptance, 466 7i.; conference with 
Southerners on H.'s policy, 533, 534, 2, 
66, 67; opposes retirement of greenbacks, 
129 n.; at H.'s funeral, 399, 400. 

Foster, J. W., and H.'s Cabinet, 2, 23. 

Fourteenth Amendment, Republican caucus 
on representation based on suffrage, 1, 
277-279; H. on, as prerequisite of recon- 
struction, 281 n.; on, as embodjdng plan 
of reconstruction, 287, 308; on objections 
to, 287; on proposed withdrawal of Ohio's 
ratification, 3-30; results of attempted 
withdrawal, 331, 334. See also Negroes. 

Franchise. See Suffrage. 

FrankUn, Benjamin, .Sparks on, as writer, 1, 
33. 

Frederick, Md., Federal reoccupation (1862), 
h 196. 

Fredericksburg, H. on battle, 1, 206. 

Freedmen. See Negroes. 

Freedmen's Bureau, significance of veto, l^ 
285. 

Frelinghuysen, F. T., and disputed election, 
1, 518 n., 524 n.; of Electoral Commission, 
530 n. 

Fremont, J. C, H. on campaign of 1856, 1, 
106, 107; re\-iews 23d Ohio (1861), H.'s 
enthusiasm over, 128, 167, 168; com- 
mands Mountain Department, 164, 167; 
on H.'s Pearisburg raid, 176; Valley opera- 
tions, 178; suspended, 180. 

Fremont, Ohio, return of H. to (1872), 1, 376; 
Birchard Library, 376-379; reception to 
H. on nomination (1876), his speech, 457- 
459; H.'s visits dviring presidency, 2, 246, 
262, 288, 297; described, 329. See also 
Spiegel Grove. 

French Creek, W. Va., Federal troops at 
(1861), 1, 133. 

Friendship, H. on, 2, 420 n. 

Fn,e, W. P., and H.'s Cabinet, 2, 16 n., 22; 
on failure of reconstruction (1877), 37 n. 

Fugitive-slave law, H. in Rosetta case, 1, 
94, 95. 

Gaines, Theophilus, in West Virginia cam- 
paign (1861), 1, 141. 

Gaines, William, anecdote of Mrs. Hayes 
and, 2, 310 n. 

Gallagher, T. J., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 58; 
and first-call meeting, 120. 

Gallatin, Albert, Story on, as financier, 1, 
44. 

Garfield, J. A., on pro-slavery oflScers, 1, 179; 
appearance (1866), 277; on H. in Congress, 
281; letters with H. (1875) on Ohio con- 
test, 390, 391 7i.; with H. (1876) on mon- 
ey issue and H.'s candidacy, 427, 428 n., 
432 470 n.; report to H. on contest in 
Louisiana, .502 n., 507; to H. (1876) on at- 
tempt to aUenate Grant, 506 n.; on forces 
for peace in disputed election, 520 n.; 
from H. on Electoral Commission Bill, 
524 n.; of Electoral Commission, 530 n.; 
conference with Southerners on H.'s pol- 
icv, 534; nomination (1880) as vindicating 
1876 results, 539, 2, 168, 238, 230, 369. 
370; H. and candidacy for Senate (1877). 
44 n.; and Potter Committee (1878), 151; 



464 



INDEX 



opinion of Anderson's testimony, 159 n.\ 
presidential nomination, 237; H. on nomi- 
nation, 239, 240 n. ; omens of nomination, 
239 n.\ H. and election, 297; and wines at 
White House, 313 n.\ H. at and on funeral, 
2, 359, 304; H. and memorial fund, 359, 
429 n. ; H. on assassination, 3*52-364; H. on 
Conkling row, 362 n. ; H.'s estimate, 364 n. 

Garrison, W. L., on H.'s Southern policy, 2, 
65; and Chinese immigration, 211. 

Gatch, M. D., and Home for Soldiers' Or- 
phans, 1, 348 n. 

Gaulev River, Rosecrans' campaign (1861), 
1, 130-138. 

Geghan Law in Ohio, 1, 388; H. on, 399, 
400; repealed, 410. 

Genealogy, H.'s, 1, 1-14; of Mrs. Hayes, 77, 
78 n.; H.'s interest, 2, 419. 

Geological survey, H.'s advocacy for Ohio, 
1, 332, 347, 412. 

George, Henry, H. and theories, 2, 382, 3S3. 

Georscia, conditions (1867), 1, 309. See also 
Reconstruction. 

Gettysburg, H.'s visit and speech (1878), 
2,255. . ^ ^ 

Gholson, W. Y., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 58. 

Giles Court House. See Pearisburg. 

GiUett,L. H., in West Virginia (1S61), 1,133. 

Gilmore, D. C, Slater Fund, 2. 352. 

Gilmore, G. W., in West Virginia operations 
(1862), 1, 173, 182. 

Gladden, Washington, tribute to H., 2, 402, 
403; on H.'s religious belief, 436. 

Gladstone, W.E.,on Federal Constitution, 2, 
265. 

Glendale, Ohio, H.'s political speech (1872), 
1, 369-373. 

Goepper, Michael, and Home for Soldiers 
Orphans, 1, 348 n., 2, 396. 

Goethe, J. W. von, Longfellow on moral ten- 
dencies, 1, 44. 

Go£F, Nathan, Secretary of Navy, 2, 32 n. 

Gordon, J. B., Opequon, 1, 239, 244, 245; on 
Crook's charge, 245 n.\ Ced.ar Creek, 2oo; 
conference with H.'s friends on Southern 
poUcy, 533, 534, 2, 42, 66, 67; and H.'s 
Cabinet appointments, 29; at Southern 
dinner in New York (1889;, on H. as Pres- 
ident, 387 n., 388 n. 

Government, H. on tendency to enlarge 
functions, 1, 34 1 ; Henry Adams on failure of 
American, 2, 327 n. See also Civil service. 
Congress, Constitutions, Finances, Legis- 
lature, Local government. Reconstruction. 

Governors, H. and portraits of Ohio, 1,349 n. 

Graham, C. K., contest over appointment 
as Surveyor, 2, 92-94. 

Grand Army of the RepubUc, H. on "bloody 
shirt" in, 2, 340 n.; H. at encampment 
(1892), 393; his practice to walk in the 
ranks, 393 n., 403 ; McKinley's address on 
H., 405. 

Granger, Daniel, as schoolmaster, 1, 16. 

Granger, M. M., Loyal Legion minute on 
H., 2, 405. 

Grant, U. S., and West Virginia operations 
(1864), 1, 217; on Hunter's Valley cam- 
paign, 225 n.; conference with Sheridan at 
Charlestown, 238; lack of display, 23S n.; 
and exchange of Crook, 208; H. on final 
victories, 270, 271; on conditions in South 
(1866), 309; on Sheridan as military gov- 
ernor (1867), 321; on Fifteenth Amend- 
ment, 335; and final reconstruction, 3_36, 
337; and civil service reform, 371, 2, 71- 
73, 101,102; offers ofBcc to H., 1, 376; H.'s 
attitude (1875), 383; failure as President, 



415; on his political inexperience. 415 n.; 
Democratic condemnation (1876), 467; 
attempt to ahenate from H. during dis- 
puted election, 505, 506 n.; attitude during 
di.«pute, 516 n., 519 n.; and Electoral Com- 
mission, 527, 529 n. ; threats against during 
disputed election, 2, 1 ; and H. before in- 
auguration, state dinner, 5; and military 
support of Louisiana carpetbag govern- 
ment, 33 n., 35; and Panama Canal, 219, 
223; candidacy (1880), 233 n., 234-237; 
attitude towards it (1879), 235 n., 236 n.; 
H. on candidacy, 237 n.; H.'s state dinner 
for, 326; Peabody Education Fund, 351; H. 
at and on funeral, 359,359 n.; H. on mon- 
ument fund, 359 n.; on character, 359 n.; 
H.'s friendship, 421. See also Elections 
(1868, 1872). 

Gray, Thomas (or William), in West Virginia 
(1862), 1, 161. 

Great Awakening, called a "stir," 1, 11. 

Great Britain, Trent affair, 1, 156; Halifax 
Award, 2, 208. 

Great Flat Top Mountain. See Flat. 

Greeley, Horace, H. on presidential candi- 
dacy, 1, 307, 372-374. 

Green Meadows, W. Va., Federal camp 
(1862), 1, 182-187. 

Greenbacks. See Paper money. 

Greenleaf, Simon, Dana on Law School 
under, 1, 31; as lecturer, 32; on necessity 
of pleading, 36; idea of lawyer, 39. 

Gresham, W. Q., presidential candidacy, 8, 
367, 370 n. 

Groesbeck, John, Cincinnati volunteer home 
company, 1, 121. 

Groesbeck, W. S., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 
57; International Silver Conference, 2, 
127 n. 

Grosvenor, W. G., and Cipher Dispatches, 2< 
162. 

Grover, CMvier, Opequon, 1, 240. 

Grover, L. F., and Oregon's electoral vote 
(1876), 1, 508. 

Guerrillas in West Virginia, 1, 130, 131, 162- 
166, 170. 

Guilford, William, at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Guthrie Grays (Sixth Ohio) , in West Virginia 
campaign (1861), 1, 132, 145. 

Guyandotte, W. Va., Confederate raid (1861), 

1, 153. 

Haldeman, W. N., and H.'s visit to Louisville, 

2, 248. 

Haldimand, Sir Frederick, Vermont intrigue, 

1, 9. 

Hale, Eugene, visiting statesman to Louisi- 
ana, report to H., 1, 507; and H.'s Cabi- 
net, 2, 22. 

Halifax Award, public opinion, payment, 2, 
208. 

Halstead, Murat, from H. (1866) on Four- 
teenth Amendment, 1, 281 n.; (1871) on 
retirement from public hfe, 365 n.; and 
H.'s candidacy for Governor (1875), 390; 
H.'s campaign correspondent (lS76), 
470 n.; opposes veto of Bland Silver Bill, 

2, 122 n.; on death of H., 398. 
Hamilton, Alexander, Story on reach of 

thought, 1, 42; bank argument, 42; as fi- 
nancier, 44. 

Hamilton, Gail, in campaign of 1884, 2, 
367 n. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, and H.'s candidacy for 
presidential nomination, 1, 442; and Chi- 
nese immigration, 2, 213. 






k 



INDEX 



465 



Hampton, Wade, on Reconstruction Acts, 
1, 311, 312; rival government in South 
Carolina, 2, 35; interest in disputed elec- 
tion, 35; popular support, 49; conference 
w-ithH., 49-51; pledge, 50 7i.;inH.'s South- 
ern trip, 248 n., 249; on reunion, 250 n.; on 
H.'s services to South, 407. iSee also South 
Carolina. 

Hancock. W. S., and his command (1865), 
1, 269; and election of 1S76, 539, 2, 168 n.; 
H.'s tribute, 409 n.; H.'s friendship, 421. 
See afso Elections (1S80). 

Harlan, J. M., nominates Bristow (1876), 1, 
446; withdraws him, 451; considered for 
H.'s Cabinet, 2, 17; commission to Louisi- 
ana (1877), 45, 54; H. on appointment as 
Justice, 89 n., 108. 

Harney, W. S., at .Austin (1849), 1, 52. 

Harper, , of 23d Ohio, in West Virginia 

(1862), 1, 177. 

Harper's Weekly, on Ohio campaign (1875), 

1, 407; on cause of Repubhcan condition 
(1875), 414 n. ; onTilden and Tweed, 4 18 n. ; 
on ConkUng (1876), 418 n.; on Bristow 
in Cabinet, 420 n.; on H.'s inauguration, 

2, 5 n., 6n.; on Conkling and New York 
Custom House appointments, 92; on veto 
of Refunding Bill, 140 n. See also Curtis. 

Harrison, Benjamin, considered for H.'s 
Cabinet, Morton's antipathy, 2, 17, 23; 
H. on, as presidential possibility (1884), 
367; H. on campaigns (18SS), 370-373; 
(1892), 375-377; H. on ci\'il service poUcy, 
374, 375; lack of tact, 375; and death of 
H., 399, 401. 

Harrison, Mrs. Benjamin, H. at funeral, 2, 
360, 394. 

Harrison, Russell, at Southern dinner in New 
York (1889), 2, 387 n. 

Harrison, W. H., H. on campaign of 1840, 

1, 97, 98; ci^^l service reform order, 2, 79 n. 
Harrison Trail, through Spiegel Grove, 2, 

332, 441, 445. 

Hartranft, J. F., candidacy for reelection as 
Governor (1875), 1, 407; candidacy for 
presidential nomination, 448, 449, 452; 
and H.'s Cabinet, 2, 17. 

Hartridge, Juhan, and fraud issue (1878), 2, 
156. 

Harvard Universitjy, H. in Law School (1843- 
45), Story and Greenleaf as professors, 1, 
30-45; sectional clash (1844), 41; honor- 
ary degree for H., 2, 241. 

Haskell, A. C, and H.'s Southern policy, 2, 
42. 

Hassard, J. R. G., and Cipher Dispatches, 

2, 162. 

Hassaurek, Frederick, appointment to Bo- 
livia, 1, 119; on Reconstruction Acts, 315. 

Hastings, Russell, on incidents of railroad 
raid (1864), 1, 217 n., 219 n.; on destro.ving 
railroads, 222 n.; on Antietam battlefield 
(1864), 230 n.; on intercourse of skirmish 
Unes, 235 n.; of H.'s staff, 240 n.; wounded 
at Opequon, 245, 251, 263; on Gordon's 
account of Crook's devils, 245 n.; marriage 
in White House, 2, 322. 

Hatch, J. E., at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Hawley, J. B., H. on appointment, 2, 89 n. 

Hawley, J. R., in Repubhcan Convention 
(1876), 1, 444; commission to Louisiana 
(1877), 2, 54 ; on work of commission, .59 n. ; 
H. on presidential candidacy, 367, 370; at 
Grand Army Encampment (1892), 393 n. 

Hayes, Abigail (Dibble), 1, 3. 

Hayes, Abigail (Hitchcock Brown), 1, 5. 



Hayes, B. A., birth, 1, 82; at father's camp, 
207, 209, 215; in father's Southern trip, 
248 n.; in Western trip, 281 «.; in Pacific 
Coast tour, 293; \-isits to White House, 
301; and death of father, 397 n. 

Hayes, Chloe (Smith), 1, 5; diarv, character, 
8, 10-12; H. on, 39; clock, 2, 443. 

Hayes, Daniel, capture by Indians, 1, 3, 4; 
later career, 4. 

Hayes, Ezekiel, career, 1, 5. 

Hayes, Fanny, at White House, 2, 300; 
christening, 319; accompanies father in 
journeys, 393; and death of father, 398; 
portrait, 442. 

Hayes, Frances A. [Mrs. W. A. Piatt], child- 
hood with H., traits, 1, 15-18; biographi- 
cal note, 15 n.; from H. (1850) on Emer- 
son, 64; at H.'s wedding, 81; death, H. 
on loss, 83, 84; and H., 2, 417. 

Hayes, George, immigrant, career, 1, 3. 

Hayes, Lorenzo, 1, 6. 

Hayes, Lucy W. (Webb), first acquaintance 
with H., 1, 74-76; character in college, 
74 7i. ; engagement, 76 ; ancestrj', 77 ; lett.era 
from fianc^, 7S-S1 ; dislikes to write letters, 
79; chirity, 81,2,309; marriage, 1, 81 ; Cin- 
cinnati homes, 82, 83; H. on earlv married 
Ufe, 82, 83; children, 82, 83, 156; war 
spirit, 121; with H. at training camp, 128; 
incident of care for soldiers, 177 n.; in 
Maryland with wounded husband (1862), 
201, 202 n., 203; at husband's headquar- 
ters, 207, 209, 213-215; kindness to sol- 
diers, 207; in New Orleans (1SG6), 288; 
and Home for Soldiers' Orplians, 348 n.; 
on being humbled by attentions, 455 n.; 
effect on, of supposed defeat of husband 
(1876), 495, 508; trips with husband during 
presidency, 2, 241, 248 n., 281 n., 293; and 
reunion of 2;id Regiment (1X77), 247: at- 
tentions on Pncific Coast trip, 293, 294; 
dress as President's wife, 299 n., 311 n., 
320, 323; pen portrait, 299 n.; sonnet on, 
300 n.; guests. 301; as mistress of White 
House, 301, 418; informal evening gath- 
erings, social character, 306-308; anecdote 
of charity, 309 n.; Sunday evening gather- 
ings, 310; hoUday observances, 311; tem- 
perance regime, 312-315; portrait for 
White House, 315; address of commenda- 
tion, 316; silver wedding, 318-321; and 
burdens of position, 325, 326; last season 
in White House, 326; accepts in^^tation^, 
327; interest in husband's activities, 386; 
at Centennial of Washington's Inaugura- 
tion, 386; last illness and death, 3S8-390; 
mourning for, funeral, 390, 391; memorial 
deaconess training school, 390 n.; hus- 
band's tribute, 391, 392 n.; domestic rela- 
tions, 417; other portraits, 442. 

Hayes, Martha (Holcombe), 1, 4. 

Haves, Mrs. Mary, 1, 4. , • . 

Haves, R. B., early years and professional 
life ll8S2-1861): Scotch origin of family, 
1, 1, 2; family arms, 3; ancestors in Amer- 
ican Revolution, 3, 5, 13, 14; Hayes ances- 
try in America, 3-6; parents, 6; birth(lS22), 
posthumous child, 6; Russell ancestry, 
6-8; Smith ancestrj', 8-10; paternal grand- 
mother, Vermont homestead, 10-13; Bir- 
chard ancestry, 13; care of uncle, 14; child- 
hood home and surroundings, sister, 15- 
17, 2, 417; school, 1, 16; v-isits to Vermont 
(1834), 16; (1844), 39; academy, 17; enters 
college, 18; in college, 19-28; debating, 22; 
college friends, 24, 25; as valedictorian, 2S; 
law reading at Columbus, 28-30; at Har- 



466 



INDEX 



vard Law School, 30-46; outside interests 
there, 31, 38, 40; admitted to bar, 46; at 
Fremont, 46; poor health, proposed enlist- 
ment in Mexican War, 46 — 18; visit to Tex- 
as (1848^9), 48-54; leaves Fremont, 54; 
reason for removal to Cincinnati (1849), 55, 
50; early routine and prospects there, 57- 
59, 72; in Literary Club, 59; other socie- 
ties, 00; Odd Fellow lectures, 60; first ac- 
quaintance with Lucy Webb, 74; love and 
engagement, 75-77,79-81; marriage, 81; 
homes in Cincinnati, 81, 83; children, 82, 
83, 156, 209, 257 n.; early practice in Cin- 
cinnati,|S5, 86; defense of Nancy Farrer, in- 
sanity, 86-91 ; of James Summons, criminal 
procedure, 91, 92; first Federal Court case, 
railway bridge over navigable waters, 92; 
partnership, 94; Rosetta fugitive-slave 
case, 94, 95; success as lawyer, 95, 108; 
Whig, 97; in campaign of 1844, "Ohio" 
banner incident, 99, 100; of 1848, 100; of 
1852, 101-104; influence on, of Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill, 104-106; in campaign of 
1856, 106-108; and American party, l06 n., 
110; City Sohcitor, 108, 109; beginning of 
political luck, 108 n.; declines to run for 
State Supreme Court (1859), 109; trip to 
Canada (1860), 114; in campaign of 18C)0, 
115, 110; and peace meeting, 117; of Lin- 
coln reception committee (1861), 118; de- 
feated for reelection as Solicitor (1861), 
118, 119; new professional arrangement, 
119. 

Military /i/e; at first-call meeting, 1, 120; 
plans for service, 121-124; spirit of enlist- 
ment, 122; major of 23d Ohio, organiza- 
tion, camp life, 124-12S; sent to West Vir- 
ginia, 128, 129; character of regiment, 129; 
as judgo-advocate-general, 130, 138-140, 
142, 143; advance to Gauley River, 130- 
135; Carnifex Ferry, 135-138; first winter 
quarters, 140; Ueutenant-colonel, 147, 
150; skirmishes and pursuit of Floyd, 150, 
151, 153-156; winter quarters at Fayette- 
ville, commands post, 154, 156, 160; chas- 
ing guerrillas, 162-165; leave of absence 
(1861), 164; (1862), 203; (1864), 267; in 
command at Raleigh, 164, 165; commands 
regiment (1862), 165; raid to Pearisburg, 
169-173; retreat, 173-177; reported wound- 
ed, 176; question of colonelcy in another 
regiment, 184, 187, 188, 192, 201, 202; 
camp at Flat Top Mountain, 177, 181; 
conmiand at Green Meadows, 182; rescue 
in force of Caldwell family, 185; destruction 
of salt works, 186, 187; march to Washing- 
ton, 188, 189; march in Antietam cam- 
paign, Reno incident, 193-197; South 
lilountain, wounded, 198-200; convales- 
cence, 200, 201,j203; colonel of 23d., 202; 
return to West Virginia, 204; spurs, 205; 
commands brigade (1863), 207; family at 
headquarters, 207, 209, 215; commands 
at Charleston, W. Va., 208, 215; Jenkins' 
raid, 209; movement against Raleigh 
(1863), 209; march to intercept Morgan, 
210-212; and reenhstment of regiment, 
213, 214; movement against Lewisburg, 
214; railroad raid (1864), Cloyd Mountain, 
217-222; march to Staunton, 222; in Hun- 
ter's Valley campaign and retreat to West 
Virginia, 223-226; return to lower Shen- 
andoah Valley, 228; movements there, 
Kernstown, 228-231; Berryville, 236; 
Opequon, 240-246, 251; staff, 240 «.; com- 
mands division, 245; Fisher's Hill, 248, 
251; Cedar Creek, 255-262; winter quar- 



ters (1864), 263; brigadier-general, 204; re- 
view of services in Shenandoah caajpaign, 
266; only one other President wounded iu 
battle, 267; and exchange of Crook, 268; 
new command in West Virginia (1865), 
269, 273; in grand review, 273; resigns, 
273; brevet major general, 273; war horse, 
273 ra.; r6sum6 of mihtary ser\'ioes, 275; 
first president of Society of Army of West 
Virginia, 274; at reunions and encamp- 
ments, 2, 246, 269, 339-343, 393; and Loyal 
Legion, 343-346. 

Military views: on first-call meeting, reso- 
lutions, 1, 120; on war spirit, 120-122; on 
dangers to Cincinnati, 121 n.; on plans for 
service, 122; on chances of commission, 
124; on commission as major, 124, 125; 
on attitude of company officers, 125; on 
first parade. Col. Rosecrans' speech, 125; 
on being in command of camp, blufiing, 
126; on new colonel, 127; on Bull Run, 127; 
on Fremont (1861), 128, 167, 168; on leav- 
ing camp, farewell to family, 128; on ad- 
vance in West Virginia, 129-135; on atti- 
tude of Southern people, 129, 131, 151, 156, 
168, 169; on West Virginia scencrj', 130, 
144. 162; on guerrillas, 131, 162, 163, 165, 
170n.; on pleasures of mihtarj-hfe, 132, 142, 
165; on Gen. Reynolds, 133; on lus march- 
ing kit, 133; on battle of Carnifex Ferry, 
feeling in battle, 137; on Confederate sol- 
diers, 138, 154; on services as judpe-ad- 
vocate-general, 138, 140, 142; on hfe at 
headquarters, 139; on Donn Piatt's jokes, 
139; on desire for ser\'ice elsewhere, 139- 

141, 159, 160; on winter quarters and its 
experiences, 140; on his regiment, 140- 

142, 152, 165, 168; war optimism (1S61), 
142; (1SC2), 180; (1863), 213; on quarters 
on Gauley, 143; on false reports and real 
condition of army, 144-146, 151, 152; on 
probable promotion, 147; on Ball's Bluff, 
147; on McClellan, and operations, 147, 
161, 165, 168, 178, 180, 181, 206; letter 
to son on a Confederate colonel and his 
house, 147-150; on winter skirmishing 
and chasing Floyd, 150-156; on quarters 
at Fayetteville, 154-156, 159; on costume 
as officer, 155; on Trent affair, 156; on 
contrabands, 157. 158, 161, 221 n.; on 
preparations for Kentucky campaign, 158; 
desire for cavalry, 159; on discipUne, 160; 
on importance of West Virginia operations. 
160, 162; on advance post at Raleigh (1862), 
160; on Dr. Webb's discontent, 100; on 
Gen. Beckley's papers and surrender, 161- 
163; on Mills Springs, 162; on Pea Ridge, 
165; on adventures of Union man, 166; on 
capture of Southern correspondent, 106; 
on Northern successes, 169; on Letcher's 
enforcement of draft, 169; on raid to Pear- 
isburg (1862). 169-173; on retreat, 173- 
175; on being in danger, 176; on camp life 
at Flat Top Mountain, 177-182; on en- 
joyment of battle, 177; on thunder storms, 
178, 186; on pro-slavery officers, 179; on 
Pope and his Eastern command, ISO; on 
camp hfe at Green Meadows, 182-184; on 
Bragg's and Morgan's operations (1862), 
183, 184, 192, 193; on colonelcy in another 
regiment, ] 84, 187, 192, 201 ; on brush with 
enemy, 185; on a scout, 186; on raid on 
salt works, 187; on march to Washington, 
187-189; on miUtarv arrangements at 
Washington, 189; on Second Bull Run, 
189-192; discouraged, 191; comparison of 
armies, 191, 192; depreciates Eastern 



INDEX 



467 



troops, 191, 233, 270; on soldiers and gen- 
erals, 192, 193; on march to Frederick, 
Reno incident, 193-197; on experience of 
being wounded, 200; on his convalescence, 
201, 203; on election and change in army 
commands, 204; on return of regiment to 
West Virginia, 204-206; on regimental 
pranks, 205; on McKinley, 205; on Fred- 
ericksburg, 206; on emancipation, 206; on 
being passed over in command, 207; on 
command at Charleston, 20S; on negro 
troops, 209; on Wytheville raid (1863), 
213; on Chickamauga, 213; on question 
of generalship, 214; on capture of Scam- 
mon, 215; on preparations for raid (1864), 
216; on railroad raid and Cloyd Mountain, 
220 71., 221; on march to the Valley, 223; 
disapproval of retahation, 223 n.; on re- 
sults of Hunter's campaign, 226; on final ex- 
ertion of Confederacy, 226, 227; on Crook's 
independent command, 226; on Kernstown, 
230 n.; on Sheridan's advance and pohcy, 
233, 235, 237; on Winchester as war tovvn, 
233 n.\ on Berry^^lle fight, 236; on Sher- 
man's and Lee's armies, 237; on differences 
between bodies of troops, 237 ; on the mo- 
rass at Opequon, 243 n.; on the charge 
across it, 244 re. ; on credit for Opequon and 
Fisher's Hill, 250, 251; on Crook and 
Sheridan, 251 ; on Averell's failure, 251 ; on 
success of Shenandoah campaign, 251; on 
retaining his general command, 252, 262; 
expects Lincoln's election and end of war, 
252; on destruction in Valley, 252 re.; on 
Early's renewed advance, 254; on reported 
death and denial, 2.57 n.; on conditions 
when Sheridan arrived at Cedar Creek, 
259 n.; on unwarranted criticism of the 
retreat, 260 re. ; on his share in Cedar Creek, 
262; on relative conduct of corps in it, 262; 
on voting in army, Sheridan's first vote, 
263: on end of Shenadoah campaign, 264, 
265, 267; on Sherman's movements, 
264, 265; on commission as general, 265, 
274, 275; on getting Crook exchanged, 
268; on duties untler Hancock (1865), 269; 
on new West Virginia command, 269; 
address on leaving old brigade, 269 re. ; on 
Grant's final victories, 270, 271; on his 
miUtary career, a "good colonel," 273- 
275; on execution of bounty-jumper, 476 re. ; 
on glory of private soldier (1877), 3, 246; 
on Gettysburg and Lincoln, 255; on pen- 
sions (1887) , 339 re. ; on aid for Confederate 
veterans, 339 re.; on Grand Army En- 
campment (1892), 393 n.; tribute to Han- 

PolilicalHfe (1865-1876) : elected to Con- 
gress (1864), 1, 2.34, 263; suggested by 
soldiers for Governor (1865), 274, 290; in 
Otiio campaign (1865), 276; Republican 
congressional caucus, reconstruction reso- 
lutions (1865), 278; attitude on reconstruc- 
tion, 280, 289; as Congre.ssman, in Com- 
mittee on Library, 281, 282; campaign for 
reelection, 282-288 ; congressional \'isit 
to New Orleans, 288; reluctance to run 
for Governor (1.S07), 291. 292; nomi- 
nated, 292; resigns from Congress, 293; 
campaign speeches, 203-328; elected Gov- 
ernor, 328; ina,ugural address, 328-331; 
in presidential campaign (1868), 331; mes- 
sages to legislature (1868), 332; (1870), 
339 (1871), 341; (1872), 342-345; renomi- 
nated, 334; speech in convention, 3.34- 
337; reelected, 339; second inaugural, 3.39- 
341; character of state papers as Governor, 



345; review of measures advocated, 345- 
350; and manhood suffrage, 346; and mi- 
nority representation on boards, 346; and 
judicial appointments, 347; and civil serv- 
ice reform, 347; and geological survey, 
347; and penal and charitable institutions, 
348, and State University, 349; interest 
in local history and archseology, .349; 
occasional addresses, 350-354; declines 
third term (1871), 354; in State campaign 
(1871), 355-361; and senatorial contest 
(1872), 362, 363; reception to new Gov- 
ernor, 363; return to Cincinnati, 365; de- 
termined to quit public life, 365, 377; in 
Federal campaign (1872), candidacy for 
Congress, 366-376; refuses Federal office, 
376; returns to Fremont, 376; development 
of Spiegel Grove, 376; interest in real es- 
tate, 376, 379; and library for Fremont, 
376-379; and his uncle, 378; as uncle's 
heir and executor, 378; and nomination for 
Governor (1875), 382-387; preparation 
for campaign, issues of sound money and 
sectarian interference in schools, 389-399; 
campaign, speeches, 392-406; elected, 
significance of victory, 406; character of 
campaign, 406 n.; in Pennsylvania cam- 
paign, 407; third inaugural, 40S-410; 
character of appointments, 410; and par- 
doning power, rules, 411; at post during 
presidential campaign, 411; last message 
as Governor, 411-413; resigns, 413; and 
strike of coal miners, 439, 440. 

Political views before and after presidency: 
on avoiding politics, 1, 26, 31; on section- 
alism in colleges. 26, 27, 41; on Mexican 
War, 46; on campaign (1,840), 97, 98; (1844), 
100; (1852), 102-104; (1860), 115;on Tyler, 
98 ; on political honors, 99 ; on Scott in 
Ohio (1851), 101 re., 102 re.; on Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill and South (1854), 105; on 
slavery and results of 1856, 106, 107, 114; 
on Know-Nothings and Republicans in 
Cincinnati( 1859), 110; on Lincoln's address 
(1859). 110. Ill; on prospects of campaign 
of 1860, 115; on pre-election threats of 
secession, 116; prefers disunion to compro- 
mise, 117; on reception of Lincoln (1861), 
118; on Lincoln's policy, 118; on his own 
defeat for Solicitor, 119; solution of .slavery 
question (1861), 157; on rumored Cabinet 
changes (1862), 161; on reaction favoring 
war policy (1863), 208; on negro policy of 
administration, 209; on Brough's election 
(1863), 214; on McClellan's candidacy, 
233 re., 236-238; on candidacy for Con- 
gress (1864), refuses to leave army to can- 
vass, 234, 234 n., 238; expects Lincoln's 
election, 252; on election to Congress, 
263 n.\ on Chase's appointment as Chief- 
Justice, 265; on applicants for West Point, 
265; on fall of gold (1865), 269; on assassi- 
nation of Lincoln, distrustof Johnson, Lin- 
coln's fame, 271, 272; on Ohio Congressmen 
(1865), 277 re.; on Republican caucus on 
reconstruction, representation based on 
suffrage, 278; on leadersof Congress, 278 re. ; 
attitude on suffrage question (18(i6), 279; 
on Johnson and Congress, 279, 280, 2S4, 
285; on presidential reconstruction, 280, 
2.83, 307; on Fourteenth Amendment as 
prerequisite of reconstruction, 281 re.; 
campaign speeches on reconstruction 
(1866), 2S3-2S8; (1867), 293-327; on en- 
forcement of Iron-clad Oath, 284, 285: on 
"Rebel plan" of reconstruction, 286, 306, 
307, 319 ; on congressional plan, Four- 



INDEX 



teenth Amendment, 287, 308; on candi- 
dacy for nomination for Governor (1867), 
291, 292; on national unity, 293, 294; on 
equality of rights in Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 294; on growth of slave power 
and opposition, 295, 290, 353, 354; on 
Peace Democrats and the war, 296-301; 
on development of emancipation policy, 
opposition of Peace Democrats, 301-306; 
on conditions in South on rejection of 
Fourteenth Amendment, 308, 309; on Re- 
construction Acts, their success and South- 
ern acceptance of them (1867), 310-315, 
319; on right and inevitahleness of impar- 
tial suffrage, 315-318; on suffrage and edu- 
cation, 318; on reconstruction as para- 
mount issue, 321; on necessity of recon- 
struction by loyal men and plans only, 321- 
324; on inconsistency of Peace Demo- 
crats, 324; on their prolongation of the 
war, 325-327; on conduct and prospects 
of his cami^aign (1867), 328; inaugurals as 
Governor, 329-331, 340, 341; on principles 
of State taxation, 329; on excessive legis- 
lation and over-government, 329, 336, 
341; on progress in Ohio towards man- 
hood suffrage, 329; on proposed with- 
drawal of ratificationof Fourteenth Amend- 
ment, 330; on Seymour's nomination, 331; 
messages to legislature, 332, 342-345; on 
election frauds, 332; on Democratic fail- 
ure in Ohio (1869), 334-336; on visible 
admixture bill, 335; on suffrage for stu- 
dents and veterans in soldiers' homes, 335; 
on increase in local indebtedness, 335, 
338 n., 342; on reconstruction of Virginia, 
Mississippi, Texas, 336, 337; on State civil 
service reform, 340, 347, 403; on return to 
appointive judiciary, 340; on avoidance of 
State debt, 342, 345 n. ; on fixed salaries, 
342; on need of railway investigation and 
reform (1872), 343; on corruption and mis- 
management in local government, plan of 
investigation, 344, 404, 408, 409, 412; on 
minority representation on State boards, 
346 ra.,347 n.; on Home for Soldiers' Or- 
phans, 348 n.; on significance of Civ-il War 
and its commemoration, 350-352; on delet- 
ing his speech as presiding officer, 350 n.: 
on heroes of mistaken causes, 352; toast to 
Kentucky and Ohio, 352, 353; on Fifteenth 
Amendment, 354; on sincerity of "new 
departure" of Ohio Democrats (1871), 
355-361; on senatorial contest, 362, 363, 
365 n. ;on retiring from public life (18721, 
364, 365 n., 366 n.; on Liberal Convention 
and on Greeley (1872), 366, 367, 369, 372- 
374; on Republican Convention, 367; on 
prospects of campaign, 367, 369, 374; on 
candidacy and defeat for Congress (1872), 

368, 375; on Republican policy and inter- 
nal peace, results of Fifteenth Amendment, 

369, 370, 373; on financial improvement 
under Grant, 370, 373; on Federal ci\'il serv- 
ice reform (1872), 371; on tariff reduction, 
371 ; on Democratic abandonment of prin- 
ciples, 372; on Grant's reelection, 375, 376; 
on candidacy for nomination of Governor 
(1875), 382-387; preliminary speech on 
issues, 389 n.; on preparation for contest 
and issues, 390, 391; campaign speeches on 
inflation, 392-397, 401-403; on sectarian 
interference with public schools, 397- 
401 ; on prospects of campaign, and elec- 
tion, 405, 406, 2, 371 n.; on third inaugu- 
ration, 408; on his appointments, 410; on 
rules as to pardons, 411; on Morton (1870), 



419 n. — On Conkling (1888), 2, 24 n., 
235 71. ; on large results of Civil War, 340 n., 
343 n.; on the completeness of its re- 
sults, 341, 342; pleas for reconciliation, 
340 n., 341 n.; on gain to South through it, 
342; on Lincoln as incarnation of ideas of 
the war, 342, 343; on purpose of Loyal 
I^egion, 344-346; on Federal aid of educa- 
tion, 349, 350, 361 n., 365, 368; on respon- 
sibility for slavery, 350 n.; on Grant's 
character (1885), 3.59 n.; on Grant's fu- 
neral, Arthur, Cleveland, 359 71., 360 n.; 
on definite retirement, 361 n., 369; on as- 
sassination of Garfield, 362-364; on Conk- 
ling-Garfield row, 362 n.; on progress of 
civil service reform (1884) and his share 
in it, 362 n.; on Garfield's funeral, 3(54; 
estimate of Garfield, 364 n.\ on Arthur's 
first message, 365, 366; on Mormons, 365, 
366 71.; on recon.struction as settled ques- 
tion (1881), 366; on campaign of 1884, 
366-368; on Cleveland and civil service 
reform, 368, 379; on Cleveland's adminis- 
tration, 368, 369, 374; on campaign of 
1888. 370-373; on tariff (1888), 370 n.; 
(1890), 375; on requests for influence with 
Harrison, 373; on Harrison's appointments, 
374, 375; on Ohio campaign, Foraker 
(1889), 374, 375; on congressional elec- 
tions (1890), 375; on Harrison's lack of 
tact, 375 n.; on campaign of 1892, 375- 
377; on single presidential term of six 
years (1892), 37.8, 379; opposition to tem- 
perance in politics and legislation, 379- 
381 ; on woman suffrage, 381 ; on labor con- 
ditions and swollen fortunes, 381-3.85; 
response to toast to Presidency (18.89), 
386 71., 387 71.; on Southern dinner in New 
York, speech there, negro suffrage and 
Senate as settled issues, 387 71.-389 n. ; on 
not seeking political honors, 414 7i. 

Presidential election and contest: Demo- 
cratic search of record, slanders, 1, 379 ti., 
473-176; influence of Ohio election (1875) 
on candidacy, 407, 423-425; strength sa 
available candidate for nomination, 420, 
438, 447, 453; .Sherman's pioneer work for, 
420; attitude towards suggestions of can- 
didacy (1867-76), 421-426; popular re- 
sponse to Sherman's advocacy, 426; as 
passive candidate for nomination, 427- 
440, 441 71.; indorsement by Ohio, 431, 
441; Curtis-Dickson correspondence on, 
and Stalwarts, 434, 435 «.; and vice-presi- 
denti.al nomination, 442; general second 
choice, 442, 443, 454 ti.; atritude of 
Ohio delegation, 442; Noyes' speech nomi- 
nating, 447; seconds, 448; in balloting, 
448-452; nominated, 452; wisdom of 
choice, 453; management of forces in con- 
vention, 453 71., attitude during conven- 
tion, 454; formal notification, reply, 455, 
456; attitude after nomination, 456 7i.; 
public reception of nomination, 456; re- 
ception at Fremont, speech, 457—159; 
letter of acceptance, 459— J65; reception 
of letter, 465, 466; conduct during the 
campaign, 470; and Chandler as campaign 
manager, 472; charge of Know-Nothing- 
ism, 476^78, and October States, 478- 
481, 484-486; and assessments, 482; strain 
of campaign, 483, 486. 488; at Centennial, 
487; does not vote, 490: conduct during 
doubt of results, 491-500; and legal deter- 
mination of vote, 500-502; justice of elec- 
tion, 502-508, 537-540, 2, 144; and pledges 
to South, and Matthews-Gordon confer- 



I 



.^A 



INDEX 



469 



ence, 1, 504, 505, 517 n., 51R n., 520, 533, 
534, 2, 66, 67; attempt to alienate Grant, 
1, 505, 506 re.; and Oregon vote, 508, 509; 
during contest in Congress, 511, 512, 
517 re.; and right of President of Senate to 
count votes, 513, 522, 523; political con- 
sultations during contest, question of 
presence or representative at Washing- 
ton, 513-519; attitude towards compro- 
mise and Commission, 521-524, 524 n., 
525 n.; threats against, shot at, precau- 
tions for journey, 2, 1-3; farewell recep- 
tion and meeting of legislature, 3; journey 
to Washington, 3-5; at Washington, 
Grant's dinner, private taking of oath, 5. 
Views of campaign and contest: on condi- 
tion of Republican party (1875), 1, 383; 
on Ohio election (1875) and possible can- 
didacy, 405, 406, 422, 425; on not permit- 
ting active work for nomination, 426, 429, 
431, 432, 434-438; on sound money as 
issue, 427,428,429 n., 461; on availability, 
429, 433; on Ohio endorsement, 431, 432; 
on Blaine's candidacy, 432; on possibiUty 
of vice-presidential nomination, 442 ; on be- 
ing general second choice, 442; on the con- 
vention, 454; on feelings on news of nomi- 
nation, 454 n., 456 n.; response to notifica- 
tion, 456; on public opinion of nomination, 
456; speech at Fremont reception, on Fre- 
mont as home, 457-459; on campaign 
without personalities, 459; letter of ac- 
ceptance, 460—162; on single term, 460 n., 
461; on ci^'il service reform, assessments, 
460, 475 n., 482, 482 n., 483 n.; on public 
schools, 461; on Southern problem and 
policy, 461. 462, 484, 520, 534 n., 2, 4, 
lln.,12n.; onnomination ofTilden, 1,468; 
on reception of letter of acceptance, 468; 
on Democratic search of record, 474 re.; 
on campaign slanders, 476 n. ; on accusa- 
tion of Know-Nothingism, 477, 478, 485; 
on conditions in Indiana and use of money, 
478, 479 re.; attitude toward defeat, 479, 
480 n., 484, 486; on October elections, 
481, 483-486; on adhering to principles, 
484; on danger of contested election, 486; 
on \'isit to Centennial, speech there, 486, 
487; on probable defeat through irregu- 
larities, 486, 488; on probable electoral 
vote, 489; on effects of Democratic suc- 
cess, 490; on supposed defeat, effect on 
negroes, 493-497; on \-isiting statesmen 
and honest count, 495 re., 498 n., 500, 
503; on Louisiana count, 504, 506, 507, 
508 re.; on interviews with Southern emis- 
saries, 504, 505, 516 n. ; on loss of New 
York, 506; on Oregon contest, 508, 509; 
on conduct in crisis, 508, 509 /!. ; on accept- 
ing final results, 511, 512, 517, 522, 530; 
on preparation for legal contest, 513 n.; 
on right of President of Senate to count 
votes, 513 n., 522, 523; on being uncom- 
mitted to persons or policies, \'isit of 
Conkling's emissary, 513 re., 514-516; on 
going to Washington or having represen- 
tative there, 516-519; on resigning as Gov- 
ernor before the count, 522; thoughts on 
inaugural, 522; on Conkling and compro- 
mise, 524; on (Commission, 524 ti., 525 re., 
527, 528; on necessity of preventing future 
contests, 528; on choice of Bradley, 530; 
on Florida decision, 531 re.; on Randall and 
filibuster, 532 n. ; on legality and fairness 
of election, 5.38-540, 2, 109 n., 152 re., 168 re., 
370; farewell speeches at Columbus, 4, 
4 n.; on taking oath in private, 5 7i.; on 



Cabinet building, rules, 17, 18: invita- 
tions to Sherman and Schurz, 18-20. 

Presidency: inauguration, address, 2, 5- 
14; reception of address, 14, 15; opposition 
of Republican leaders, 15-17, 82, 83. 145, 
173; formation of Cabinet, 17-23; opposi- 
tion in (Senate to confirmation, public 
opinion, 23-29; character of Cabinet, 29- 
32; changes in Cabinet, 32 n. ; question of 
inconsistency of Southern policy, 3S-40; 
difficulties of Southern probleni, 40; and 
Matthews' letters to Packard and Cham- 
berlain, 41-44; and Matthews' candidacy 
for Senate, 44 n. ; commission to Louisiana, 
instructions, 45— 49, 54-56; conference with 
Chamberlain and Hampton, 49-51; with- 
draws troops from South Carolina State 
House, 51-53; petition from New Orleans, 
56; action, ad\'ice, and report of Louisiana 
commission, 57-64; removes troops from 
Louisiana State House, 60; reception of 
action, 64-66; accusation of bargain, 66, 
67, 145, 146; historical verdict, 67; appre- 
ciatiori of civil service problem, 69. 97; 
conditions of service confronting, 73, 74; 
field of reform through executive action 
only, 74; policy as to appointments and 
removals, 75, SO, 108, and nepotism, 75, 
420; reform in Washington offices, 76; in- 
vestigations of New York Custom House, 
order for reform, 77, 91; general order 
against political participation and assess- 
ments, question of enforcement, 79, 85 n., 
86 71., 379; calls extra sessions of Congress 
(lS77),Sl,S2;(1879),173;defianceofNew 
York customs officials, 85; successors 
nominated, 86; contest in Senate over con- 
firmation, rejection, 86-91; vacation sus- 
pension of officials, 92; renewal of nomina- 
tions, confirmation, 92-94; reforms under 
new officials, 95, 96; reform in New York 
Postoffice, 97; reform results of civil serv- 
ice policy, 107, 110, 403 ; offices for visiting 
statesmen and Returning Board officials, 
108-110; attitude on resumption, 112; 
and railroad riots, 113, 228; and Bland 
Silver Bill, veto, 120-127; and act forbid- 
ding retirement of greenbacks, 130: in- 
fluence on resumption, 132; vetoof Refund- 
ing Bill, 138-140, 328; financial influence 
of administration, 140; Maryland memo- 
rial on election, 146-148; confessions of 
fraud, 149; House resolution of inquiry, 
denial of purpose to impeach title, 150- 
157; testimony on fraud issue, 157-161; 
results of investigation, 167; and Federal 
election laws, 173-177, 182, 183, 198; 
Democratic programme to coerce repeal 
through riders to appropriation bills, 178; 
determination to resist coercion, 179- 
185; vetoes of appropriation bills with 
such riders, 18.5-204, 205 n.; popular at- 
titude toward stand, 194, 199, 205-207; 
Democratic backdown, 199, 204; signs 
bill forbidding troops as police power at 
polls. 200, 201 n. ; and Halifax Award, 208; 
and Mexico, order to pursue raiders over 
border, 208-211; and Chinese immigra- 
tion, 213-218; and French Panama Canal, 
219-222; and Thompson's acceptance of 
Canal offer, 223; and rehabifitation of 
Republican party, 220, 227, 207, 297, 298; 
and yellow-fever epidemic, 2'2-i; and 
Indian education and advancement, 228- 
230; Ponca Indian episode, 230-2:j:<; Gar- 
field's nomination as endorsement of ad- 
ministration, 238, 239; platform (1880) 



470 



INDEX 






on administration, 238; first trips, 241; 
honorary degree at Harvard, 241; Holmes' 
poem, 241 n.; New England tour (1877), 
242-245; in Ohio (1877), 245-248; visits 
to Fremont, 246, 262, 288, 297; visit to 
Morton, 246 n.; Southern tour (1877), 
248-253; results, 254; at Gettysburg 
(1878), 255; at Wyoming Valley, 255; 
Northwestern tour (1878), 250-204; at 
Montpelier and Winchester, 264-266: 
and suppression of negro suffrage, 266, 
268; tour in Central West (1879), 281-285; 
at Yale (1880), honorary degree, 286-288; 
and campaign of 1880, 288, 297; Pacific 
Coast tour, 293-297; reviewof administra- 
tion, 294 n.; domestic life in White House, 
299; family there, 300; domestic force, 
301; private secretary, son as confidential 
secretary, 302; routine, 302-304; Cabinet 
meetings, 303; and wife's informal even- 
ing receptions, 307; Sunday drives and 
conferences with Sherman, 308; prepara- 
tion of state papers and speeches, 308; 
religious connection, 309; formal dinners 
and receptions, 311; temperance regime, 
312, 313; popular opinion of this, 314, 
315; Hayes Sideboard, 317; silver wedding, 
31S-321; reunion of Literary Club, 323; 
summer residence, 324 ; accepts invitations, 
326; commendations during last days of 
administration, 328; Gordon on adminis- 
tration (1889), 388 n.; tributes to stand- 
ard of presidency (1903), 403, 404, 407; 
personal relations with Cabinet, 422. 

Views as President : inaugural address, 
1, 6-11; on adhering to letter of accept- 
ance, 6; on Southern problem and purposes 
of policy, local self government, protection 
of negro rights, results, 7, 8, 45, 64, 66, 174- 
176, 227, 274-276, 286, 287, 293 n., 353 n., 
354, 430; on educational needs of South, 
Federal aid of education, 8, 288 n., 289- 
292, 293 n.; on civil service reform, 8, 9; 
aphorism on public service, 9, 13 n.; on 
single term for President, 9, 237 n.-, on cur- 
rency and resumption, 9; on American pol- 
icy and arbitration, 9, 10; on significance of 
peaceful settlement of disputed election, 
10, 11; on opposition to Cabinet, 29; on 
policy of withdrawing military support of 
carpetbag governments, 41, 45; on ex- 
tremists and Southern policy, 44 n.; on 
plans for Louisiana and South Carolina, 
45; on commission to Louisiana, 45; letter 
to Chamberlain and Hampton, 50 n.\ order 
for removal of troops, 52; on Republican 
opposition and its objects, 66 n., 82, 83, 
227, 429 n., 430; on plans for civil service 
reform, 69; on nepotism, 75 rj.; order for 
reform in New York Custom House, 77, 
95; general order against political partici- 
pation and assessments, on enforcement of 
it, 79, 86 71., 103, 106; on his removals and 
appointments, 81, 83, 89 n.\ on first si.x 
months of presidency, 81 n.; on elections 
(1877), 82, 89 n., 90 n.\ (1878), 131 «., 267, 
268; (1879), 206 71.; messages on civil serv- 
ice reform, 83-85, 98-107; on congres- 
sional dictation of appointments, 84, 87, 
90, 94, 97, 106; thoughts for special mes- 
sage on reform, 85 n.; on Senate opposition 
to New York Custom House appointments, 
87, 89-94 ; on relations with reformers, 88 ti. ; 
on first year of presidency, public support, 
88 n., 89 n.; on accomplishments in re- 
form policy, 89 n., 227, 430; message on 
New York Custom House, 93; on com- 



petitive examinations, 98, 99, 102, 104, 
105: on correct principles of public service, 
99; on previous efforts for reform, 100^ 
102; urges repeal of Tenure-of-Office Act, 
106; on difficulties of reform policy, rela- 
tions with other policies. 109, IIOji.; on ad- 
ministration and rehabilitation of Republi- 
can party, 109, 128 n., 227; on offices for 
\'isiting statesmen and Returning Board 
officials, 109 71.; on patronage and preven- 
tion of repeal of Resumption Bill, 110 n.; 
messages on finances, 11.5-119, 1.53-137; 
on necessity of resumption, 115, 131; on 
principles of bimetallism, 116, 118; on 
free silver, refunding, and public faith, 
veto of Bland Silver Bill, 117-120. 122- 
126; on preparation for resumption, 128 tj.; 
on popular purchase of small bonds, 132 n.; 
on success of resumption, results on busi- 
ness, 133,277,430 n.; on further refunding, 
133; urges repeal of silver coinage, 134, 
136, 137; on retirement of greenbacks, 
their unconstitutionaUty, 134, 135 n., 
136; on sinking fund, 135; on tariff on tea 
and coffee, 135; veto of Refunding Bill, 
because of effect on national banks, 138- 
140; on prosecution of Louisiana Return- 
ing Board, 144 n.; on threatened election 
investigation, 150 7i.; on revolutionary 
purpose of investigation, 152 n., 155 n.; 
on relations with J. E. Anderson, 158, 159; 
on Tilden and Cipher Dispatches, 165 n.; 
on approaching struggle over repeal of 
Federal election laws, 177, 179 n.; message 
at special session (1879), 177; on resistance 
to Democratic coercive policy, 181-185; 
veto of bill with army-at-polls rider, 186- 
194; on Cabinet and veto, public expecta- 
tion, 186 71.; on practice of riders, 190; on 
demand for repeal of reconstruction meas- 
ures, 195 n.; veto of bill to prevent army 
at place of election, 196, 197; veto of Fed- 
eral election law riders, 198, 205 n.; on re- 
ception of vetoes, 198 n., 203 n. ; on Demo- 
cratic backdown, 200 n., 203 n.\ on pro- 
posed withholding of appropriation for 
Federal election law, 200 7i.; veto of such 
withholding, 200-204; on results of con- 
test with Congress, temporary popularity, 
206, 207; on evils of Chinese immigration, 
veto of exclusion bill as violating treaty, 
213, 214, 217, 217 n.\ on proposed naval 
stations near Panama Canal, 219 n.\ 
thoughts and message on French Pan- 
ama Canal, 220-222; on Mormons, 225 n.; 
on Washington Monument, 225 7i.; re- 
\aews of administration, 227, 430; on 
Indian policy, 229 n., 232 n. ; on Ponca epi- 
sode, 232; on Republican Convention 
(1880), 237 71., 240 n.; on nomination of 
Garfield, 239; pleas for reconciliation in 
New England and Ohio, 243-245, 246 n., 
247, 248; and in South, 249-253; on New 
England tour (1877), 245 n.; executive 
tribute to Morton, 247 n.; on pioneers and 
Indians, 256; addresses in Northwest on 
dangers of inflation (1878), 257-264, 268; 
on Madison and Constitution, 264, 265; 
on Northwestern trip, 264 n.\ on Mont- 
pelier, 264 n.; on Butler (1878), 267; on 
nationalism as result of Civil War, 270' 
274, 276, 292 n., 296; on avoiding public 
debt, 278-281; on leading ideas of recon- 
struction, 281; on force and unity of public 
opinion, 282, 284; on Lincoln as President, 
283; on future of Pacific Coast, 295; on 
essence of Declaration of Independence 






INDEX 



471 



Ordinance of 1787, Constitution, 295, 
296; on principlesof administration (ISSO), 
297; on election of Garfield, 297, 369, 370; 
on relatiens with Wheeler, 306 n.; on en- 
tertainment of diplomatic corps, 312 n.; 
on "life-saving station" story, 313 n.\ on 
temperance regime, 313 n.; on expenses 
and accusation of parsimony, 314 n.\ on 
approaching retirement and strain of presi- 
dency, 325, 326, 374, 425 n.; on dinner at 
Bancroft's, 327 n.; on closing days of ad- 
ministration, 328 n.; on ex-Presidents, 
335, 336 n.; on Arrears of Pensions Bill, 
338 n. ; on annexation of Canada, 377, 
378; on criticism and abuse, attitude 
toward calumny, 427 n., 429 «.,430,431 n.; 
on success of non-partisan appeal (1878), 
427 11. ; on praise, 431 n.; on growing popu- 
lar recognition (1889), 432 n. 

Lastyears {1881-1893): property,2, 329; 
labors and hospitality, 329; Spiegel Grove 
described, 331-335, 441-446; welcome 
home, 335; memorial building, 335 n., 
446—150; part in hfe of conmiunity, 336; 
as president of Prison Association, 346- 
348; and Federal aid of education, 349- 
351; as member of Peabody Education 
and Slater funds, 351-354; and Lake Mo- 
honk Conferences, 354; as tnjstee of col- 
leges, interest in manual training, 355-357; 
burden of correspondence, 357; occasional 
demands, 358; at funeral of Garfield, 359; 
and Garfield memorial fund, 359, 429 n.\ 
at funeral of Grant, 359; of Arthur, Sher- 
man, Mrs. Harrison, 360, 394; as political 
observer, 361; at Centennial of Washing- 
ton's Inauguration, 386; and death of 
■wife, 391, 396; resumption of acti\-ities, 
392; \asit to Bermuda, 393; at Grand Ar- 
my Encampment (1892), 393; last pubhc 
aci-ivities, 393-395; last journey, 396; 
seizure and death, 397; mourning for, fu- 
neral, 398-401; tributes to. 40W10; re- 
fuses poUtical inter\'iews, 406; New York 
Sun's "chicken-raising" attacks, 431; 
portrait, 442. 

Miscellaneous views: on his sister, 1, 15, 
17, 83, 84; on schoolmaster, 16; self-charac- 
terization (1841), 19-20; on aspirations and 
faults (1841-50), 20, 22, 28, 39, 45, 57; on 
speaking well of others, 21; on typical col- 
lege exhibitions, 23, 24; on college friends, 
25; on application to law studies, 29, 30, 
34; rules of work, 30; on Story and Green- 
leaf as professors, 31-45; on Sparks as lec- 
turer, 33; on reaching his majority, 34; on 
reading for authorities, 34; on Adams as 
pohtical speaker, 34; on Bancroft, Win- 
throp, Choate, Webster as speakers, 35, 
40; on Dana's lecture on loyalty, 36; on 
first theater, 36; on Walker as preacher, 
38, 40; on public speaking, 38, 44, 59; on 
visit to Vermont (1844), 39; on law of real 
property, 40, 41; on Berrien as speaker, 
44; on Longfellow on Goethe, 44; on his 
first partner, 46; on Mississippi River 
steamboat life (1848), 49; on Gen. Worth, 
49; on social life and amusements in Texas, 
50, 51; on horseback trip there, Austin, 
character sketches, 51-54; on waiting for 
practice, 57 ; on mode of life and prospects 
(1850), 57-59, 86; on Literary Club, 58; 
on wasted years at Fremont, 59 ; on temper- 
ance views, 60; on Stockton's lecture, 61, 
on Emerson, his conversations and beliefs, 
61-66; on early English poets, 66; on Aris- 
totle's Ethics, 68; on Paley on moral 



sense, 68, 69; on Locke's innate ideas, 69; 
on N. P. WiUis, 69; on reading habit, 70, 
71,72 71. \ on Reformation and Divine inter- 
ference, 70 n.; on Ik Marvel, 71; on loose 
fiction, 71 n.; on Bible as Uterature, 72; 
on Choate's career, 72 n.; on Judge John- 
ston, 72 n., 3, 421 n.; on marriage, 1, 74; 
on Miss Webb and his engagement, 76; 
on his fiancSe, letters to her, 78-81; on 
W. E. Channing and true Christianity, 
79; on music, 81 n.; on delay in marriage, 
81 n. ; on early married Ufe, 82, 83 n. ; argu- 
ment on criminal insanity, 87-90; on un- 
written law, 90; on rights of defendant, 
91; on his legal success, 95; on fugitive-slave 
cases, 95 ?!. ; on his contentment (1860), 
114 n.; on return to Fremont (1S73), 376 n.; 
on real estate business, 377; on plans for 
Fremont Ubrary, 377, 379 n.; on collect- 
ing books on Ohio, 377 n.; on his uncle, 
378; on R. C. Anderson and old friends, 
2, 321 n.; on name Spiegel Grove, 331 n.; 
on secret societies, 336 n.; on virtues of 
Catholic Church, 337 n.; on prison reform, 
348, 392 n., 394; on uses of Slater Fund, 
352 n.; on Southern trip (1891), 353 n.; 
on piirpose of Lake Mohonk Conference, 
354; on future of negro race, 355 ii.; on 
thoroughness in duties, 355 n.; on Ohio 
State University (1887), 355 n.; on manual 
training, 356, 357 ; on burden of correspond- 
ence and activities, 357 n., 396 ?i.; on 
newspapers, 358 7i. ; on Washington, 358 n., 
359 n.; tribute to his wife, 391, 392 n.; on 
being seventy, 395; on cultivating self- 
control, 395 n., 396 n.; on genealogy, 420; 
on friendship, 420 n.; to W. H. Smith on 
personal relations, 425 n.; on Emerson's 
message, 433, 434; on Chautauqua course, 
433 n. ; on Lowell's writings, 434 n. ; on de- 
pendence on Divine favor, 435 n.; on reh- 
gious belief, 437. 

Characteristics: ancestral influences, 1, 8, 
14; opinion of teacher, IS; common sense, 
19; character at college, 19 n., 25; love of 
fun and sports, 20, 21, 2, 415 n., 416; pub- 
hc and private purity, 1, 20 n., 2, 404, 405, 
407; love of nature, 1, 21; carefulness of 
preparation, 23, 2, 308; opinion of Judge 
Lane (1847), 1, 47; cathohc intellectual 
s\-mpathies, 66; general reading, 66-/3, 
l"l4 n., 179, 380 n., 2, 432; optmusm, 1, 
86; popularity with lawyers, 93; temper- 
ance, opposition to poUtical efforts, 100, /J, 
305, 379-381; pohtical clear-headedness, 
1, 104; tact, 126 n., 2, 409 n.; firmness, 
174; as travelling companion, 396, 416; 
as man of the people, 402; many-sidedness, 
403; sense of duty, 404, 409 n., 414; as 
soldier, 404, 405; self-control, 406; wnde 
sjTnpathies, 408; as partisan, 409 «.; per- 
sonal appearance, 412, 413; recreations, 
412; speech and manner, 413; dress, 413; 
pohtical honors not sought, 414; straight- 
forwardness, 414; reticence, 414; adapta- 
biUty, 415; intellectual curiosity, 41b; 
faculty of remembering 'people, 416; do- 
mestic relations, 416-419; and gcneal- 
ogv, 419; friendships, 420-425; as speaker, 
stvle, 425-427; as presiding officer, 42 <; 
attitude towards criticism and praise, 4^7- 
432; religious belief, 434-137; aa best 
American type, 437. 

Hayes, R. P., birth, 1, 82; at father s camp. 
209, 215; in town (1880), 2, 293; White 
House, 301; and death of father, 397. 

Hayes, Rebecca (Russell), 1, 5, 8. 



472 



INDEX 



i 



Hayes, Rutherford, [1], career, and character, 
1, 5; wife, homestead, 10-13; guu, Z, 442. 

Hayes, Rutherford [2], career, 1, 6. 

Hayea, S. R., at White House, 2, 300; chris- 
tening, 319; and death of father, 397 n. 

Hayes, Sarah (Lee), 1, 4. 

Hayes, Sopliia (Birchard), 1, 6, 14; and war, 
121; and son, 2, 416; portrait, 442. 

Have.s, W. C, birth, 1, 82; at father's camp, 
207, 209, 215; and threats against father 
(1S76), 2, 2; in father's Southern trip, 
248 n.; in Western trip, 281 n.; at White 
House, 300, 311 n.; as father's confidential 
secretary, 302 ; deeds Spiegel Grove to State, 
425 71., 447-449; and seizure and death of 
father, 397. 

Hayes family, origin, 1, 1, 2; arms, 2. 

Haynes, W. E., and transfer to another regi- 
ment, 1, 192 n.; at H.'s funeral, 2, 400. 

Henderson, Henry, scout of 23d Ohio, 1, 
163. 

Hendricks, T. A., on Iron-clad Oath and 
reconstruction, 1, 283; vice-presidential 
nomination, 466; and H.'s title to presi- 
dency, 539. 

Henry, E. E., in West Virginia (1862), 1, 
175 n. 

Henry Clay, Lake steamer (1834), 1, 17. 

Hepburn, A. B., on repeal of retirement of 
greenbacks (1878), 2, 130 n. 

Heroes, H. on basis, 1, 352. 

Herron, J. W., H.'s law companion, H. on, 
1, 57, 86; at H.'s silver wedding in White 
House, 2, 318; H.'s friendship, 321 n., 
421. 

Herron, Mrs. J. W., with H. after wife's 
death, 2, 392 n., 433. 

Herron, Lucy H., christening, 2, 319. 

Heth, Henry, West Virginia operations 
(1862), 1, i71, 174, 177. 

Hewitt, A. S., of joint committee on dis- 
puted election, 1, 524 n. ; on Electoral Com- 
mission Bill, 526; and fraud issue (1878), 
156, 156 n. 

Higginson, T. W., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 308, 

Hilhish,'Dr. F. S., and H.'s last illness, 2, 
397. 398. 

Hill, B. H., and disputed election, 1, 520 n.; 
and H. 's Cabinet appointments, 2, 29. 

Hill, Ralph, and Iron-clad Oath, 1, 284. 

Hisfock, Frank, and fraud issue (1878), 2, 
1.57, 165. 

History, H.'s reading, 1, 67; H.'s interest in 
Ohio memorials, 349, 377; in Americana, 
2, 334, 442. 

Hitchcock, Abigail [Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Eze- 
kiel Hayes], 1, 5. 

Hoadley, George, lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 
57; H. on election as Governor, 2, 384. 

Hoar, G. F., of joint committee on disputed 
election,il, 524 n. ; of Electoral Commission, 
530 n.; and H.'s Cabinet, 2, 22; and com- 
mission to Louisiana (1877), 45, 49; on 
riders (1879), 180 n., 185 n.; at dinner with 
H., 327 n. 

Holcombe, Martha [Mrs. Daniel Hayes], 1, 
4. 

Holliday, F. W. M., welcomes H. (1878), 2, 
265. 

Holloway, W. R., on Cabinet position for 
J. E. Johnston, 2, 21 n.; on Morton's anti- 
pathy to Harrison, 23 n.; on Thompson as 
orator, 23 n. 

Holnies, O. W., H. on "Hunt after the Cap- 
tain," 1, 205; poem to H.,2,241 n.; on Mrs. 
Hayes, 316 n. 



Holt, Joseph, H. on (1862), 1, 161. 

Home for Soldiers' Orphans, H. and, in 
Ohio, 1, 339, 346, 348. 

Home missions, interest of Mrs. Hayes, 2« 
386. 

Hood, H. G., wounded at South Mountain, 
1, 200; return to regiment, 206. 

Hook, , suggests H. for President, 1, 425. 

Horton, S. D., International Silver Confer- 
ence, 2, 127 n. 

Hotchkiss, Jed., at Cedar Creek, 1, 255 n. 

How, Artemus, Vermont company (1782), 
1, 5. 

Howard, D. C, company in 23d Ohio, 1, 
125; in West Virginia campaign (1861), 
137. 

Howard, J. M., of Committee on Library 
(1866), 1,281. 

Howard, O. O., and freedmen, 1, 288; at 
Southern dinner (1889), 2, 387 n. 

Howard, W. A., in Republican Convention 
(1876), 1, 450 n. 

Howe, T. O. , of Committee on Library (1866), 
1, 281; opposition to H., 2, 89-91. 

Howells, W. D., on grandmother of H., 1, 
10; on H.'s letter of acceptance, 406 n. 

Hubbard, , of Ohio, and Fifteenth Amend- 
ment, 1, 360. 

Hubbell, J. R., H. on, 1, 277. 

Hughes, , of Kentucky Senate, and Fif- 
teenth Amendment, 1, 358. 

Hulburd, C. T., of Committee on Library 
(1866), 1, 281. 

Hunt, S. F., and Fifteenth Amendment, 1, 
360. 

Hunter, A. A., wounded at South Mountain, 
1, 200. 

Hunter, David, Valley campaign (1864), 1, 
222-226; unselfish retirement, 231. 

Huntington, Mrs. Adda C, and death of 
Mrs. Hayes, 2, 390. 

Huntington, Daniel, paints Mrs. Hayes' por- 
trait, 2, 315 n.; on Mrs. Hayes, 317 n. 

Hunton, Eppa, of joint committee on dis- 
puted election, 1, 524 n. ; of Electoral Com- 
mission, 53071.; of Potter Committee (1878), 
157 «., 165. 

Hyde,.Jane (Lee) [Mrs. John Birchard], 1, 13. 

Illinois, bill for legal tender of silver, 2, 114. 
Imagination, Emerson on lack in America, 

1, 63; on cultivation in children, 63. 
Immigration, H. on home, 2, 25S; on avoid- 
ance of South, 289; on ilhteracy, 291; on 
restriction (1892), 394. 

Inauguration, H. on points of address, 1, 
522; journey, 2, 3-5; Grant's state dinner, 
5; private oatii, 5; proceedings, crowd, 
5 n., 6 n.\ address, 6-14; reception of ad- 
dress, 14; antagonism of Repubhcan lead- 
ers, Blaine's attack, 15-17. 

Income tax, records of presidential candi- 
dates (1876), 1, 474. 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows, H. as 
member, 1, 60, 2, 336 n. 

Indiana, Democratic attitude towards re- 
construction (1871), 1, 358; campaign 
(1870), 478-481, 483-i85. 

Indianapolis, H.'s visit and speech (1879), 
283. 

IndianapoUs Journal, on H.'s aphorism, 2» 
13 n. 

IndianapoUs News, on H. as peacemaker, 

2, 284. 

Indians, H. and education and allotment of 
land, 2, 228-230, 291; Ponca ei.i.sode, 
230-233. 



INDEX 



473 



Infantry, comparison of Federal and Con- 
federate, 1, 192. 

Inflation, as issue in Ohio (1875), 1, 387, 
388, 391; H.'s campaign speeches on, 392- 
397, 401^05; scheme of inflationists, 393; 
objections, 393; and centralization, 394, 
403; Republican attitude, 394; Thurman's 
earlier denunciation, 395, 401 ; opposition 
of Democratic press, 395, 401 ; and borrow- 
ing power and repudiation, 396, 402; at- 
tempted explanation of Democratic plat- 
form, 397; courage of Ohio Republican 
position, 407; Pennsylvania campaign 
(1875), 407; in Republican party, 417; 
effect of passage of Resumption Act, 417; 
as issue in 1876, 481, 483; H.'s speeches 
against in Northwest (1878), 3, 257-264, 
266. See also Paper money, Resumption, 
Silver. 

IngersoU, R. G., speech nominating Blaine 
(1876), 1, 446; in campaign, 479. 

Inman, Benjamin, and Mexican War, 1, 
48 n. 

Innate ideas, H. on Locke's doctrine, 1, 69. 

Insanity, H. on criminal, 1, 86-91; H. and 
treatment of insane, 318. 

Interstate Commerce Law, H. on, 2, 384. 

Iowa State Register, on Mrs. Hayes, 3, 306 n. 

Ironton Journal, on nomination of H. for 
Governor (1875), 1,386 n. 

Jackson, Andrew, anecdote, 1, 163; on nul- 
lification, 295, 323. 

Jackson, B. W., South Mountain, 1, 199. 

Jackson, H. R., Peabody Education Fund, 
3, 351. 

Jackson, T. J., Antietam campaign, 1, 197; 
H. on. as hero, 352, 3, 340 n. 

Jacobs, A. R., scout of 23d Ohio, H. on, 1, 
ISO. 

Jacobs, Sarah [Mrs. Elias Birehard], 1, 14. 

James, C. P., Cincinnati volunteer home 
company,!, 121; at H.'s reunion of Liter- 
ary Club, 3, 323. 

James, T. L., reform in New York Post- 
ofiSce, 3, 93, 96. 

Jay, John, and Declaration of Independence, 
1,41. 

Jay, John, investigation of New York Cus- 
tom House, 3, 77. 

Jefferson, Tliomas, on Marshall's sophistry, 
1, 33; on Federal judiciary, 43; on judges 
and public opinion, 44; and equality of 
rights, 294; on free schools, 3, 291. 

Jenckes, T. A., and civil service, 3, 71. 

Jenkins, A. G., in West Virginia campaign 
(1861), 1, 153; (1862), 172; raid on Point 
Pleasant, 209; Cloyd Mountain, killed, 
218, 221, 275. 

Jenks, Mrs. Agnes D., before Potter Com- 
mittee, 3, 157. 

Jesup, M. K., Slater Fund, 3, 3.52. 

Jewell, Marshall, candidacy for presidential 
nomination (1876), 1, 445, 449; and Conk- 
ling, 515. 

Jewett, H. J., and payment of Morgan raid 
claims, 1, 338 n. 

Joel, J. A., from H. (1871) on retirement, 
1, 365 n. 

Johnson, Andrew, H.'s distrust, 1, 272; ac- 
tion on reconstruction, 276, 283, 307; 
break with Congress, 277, 279, 280, 289; 
policy and Iron-clad Oath, 284, 285. 

Johnson, B. T., in VaUey campaign (1864), 
1, 228. 

Johnson, R. M., on stump in Ohio (1840), 
1,98. 



Johnson, Reverdy, and Reconstruction Acts, 
1, 311. 

Johnston, J. E., and H.'a Cabinet, 3, IS, 20. 

Johnston, William, lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 
57; H. on. 72 n., 3, 421 n.; an attempted 
repeal of Federal election laws, 172 n.; on 
H.'s reticence, 415; H.'s friendship, 421. 

Jones, G. W., on H.'s inaugural (1875), 1, 
410 n.; H.'s friendship, 3, 321 n. 

Jones, J. P., on Grant and troops in South 
(1877), 3, 33 n. 

Judah, H. M., and Morgan's raid, 1, 211. 

Judiciairy, Jefferson and influence of public 
opinion, 1, 44; H. on return to appointive 
Ohio (1870), 340; H. and appointments to 
Ohio, 347; H. on his Federal appointments, 
3, 89 n. See also Law, Supreme Court. 

Junction Railway Company, bridge case, 1, 
92. 

Jury, repeal of Federal test oath, 3, 170, 
203 n. 

Kane, T. M., in college, sectional feeling, 1, 
26; career, 26 n. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, influence on H., 1, 
104; H. on Democratic split over, 105; on 
South and, 105. 

Kansas struggle, and Republican party, 1, 
113. 

Kasson, J. A., correspondence with H. (1876) 
on representative at Washington, 1, 517, 
517 n., 518 n.; H. on appointment to for- 
eign mission, 3, 89 n. 

Kearney, Dennis, Sand-Lots agitation, 3, 
211. 

Keeler, Lucy E., on Hayes homestead at 
Brattleboro and grandmother of H., 1, 
11-13; and death of Mrs. Hayes, 2, 390; 
on Spiegel Grove, 441-450. 

Keifer, J. W., tribute to H., 2, 404. 

Kellar, A. J., influence during disputed elec- 
tion, 1, 520. 

Kelley, B. F., captured, 1, 267. 

Kelley, W. D., H. on, in Congress (1865), 
1, 278 n., of Committee on Library, 281; 
in Ohio campaign (1875), 405; in cam- 
paign of 1876, 479. 

Kellogg, W. P., as Governor of Louisiana, 2, 
34; and J. E. Anderson, 158. 

Kennedy, R. P., on capture of Crook, 1, 268; 
Loyal Legion minute on H., 3, 405. 

Kenneth II of Scotland, battle of Loncart, 
1, 1, 2. 

Kennon, T. H., in West Virginia operations 
(1861), 1, 1.54. 

Kent, James, H. on, on real property, 1, 40; 
on counting of electoral votes, 523 n. 

Kentucky, H. on situation (1861), 1, 121 n.; 
Morgan's raid (1862), 184; Bragg's cam- 
paign, 191-193; H.'s toast to Ohio and, 
352, 353; Democratic attitude towards 
reconstruction (1871), 357; H.'s visit and 
speech (1877), 3, 248-250. 

Kenyon College, H. at, 1, 18-28; sectional 
division of hterary societies, 27; H. at 
alumni banquet (1892), 3, 394; tribute of 
alumni to H., 408. 

Kernstown, battle (1864), 1, 229, 230. 

Kerr, M. C, .Speakership and sound money 
is.sue (1875), 1, 428 n. 

Kershaw, J. B., BcrryAdllo, 1, 236. 

Key, D. M., as Southern member of H.'s 
Cabinet, 3, 21, 287; attitude towards offer, 
21 re.; opposition to confirmation, 25-29, 
82; as member of Cabinet, 31; appoint- 
ment as judge, 32 re. : on conditions in South 
under restored white control, 372; and 



474 



INDEX 



congressional dictation of appointments, 
7G n.; and Bland Silver Bill, 123; on revo- 
lutionary purpose of Potter Committee, 
154; opinion of Anderson's testimony, 
1,59 n.; and veto of Army Appropriation 
Bill, 186 n.; with H. in New England tour, 
242; in Southern tour, 248 n.; humor, 
303 71. 
Kimberlev, D. H., report on Morgan's raid, 

1, 212 n. 

Kimmel, William, and fraud issue (1878), 

2, 156 n. 

Kitchings, J. H., brigade at Cedar Creek, 1, 

256. 
Knowlton, Luke, British intrigue in Vermont, 

1,9. 
Know-Nothing party, H. and, 1, 100 n., 108; 

and Republicans in Cincinnati (1859), 

110; H.'s attitude as issue in 1876, 476- 

478, 485. 
Knoxville, H.'s visit (1877), 2, 250. 

Labor, and election of 1892, 2, 376; 11 . on 
conditions (1887), 381-385. See also 
Strikes. 

Lake Mohonk Conference, H.'s interest, his 
address on purpose, 2, 354; tribute to 
H., 407, 408. 

Lamar, L. Q. C, and H.'s Cabinet, 2, 29; and 
commission to Louisiana (1877), 45, 49. 

Lane, Ebenezer, and H.'s purpose to volunteer 
(1847), letter to Prof. Mitchel, 1, 47. 

Larcom, Lucy, on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 317 n. 

Law, H. on, as career, 1, 2S; on application 
to study, 29, 30; on reading for authori- 
ties, 34; Greenleaf's idea of lawyer, 39; 
Greenleaf on pleading, 36; H. on diffi- 
culties of real property, 40, 41; lawyers in 
Cincinnati (1850), 57; H. on criminal in- 
sanity, 86-91 ; on rights of criminal defend- 
ant, 91, 92; railway bridge over navigable 
waters, 92. See also Story. 

Lawrence, C. B., commission to Louisiana 
(1877), 2, 54; and free silver, 119. 

Lawrence, William, H. on (186.5), 1, 277. 

Lebanon, Conn., Birchard family, 1, 13. 

Lebanon, Ohio, H.'s speech (1867), 1, 293- 
320. 

Le Duo, W. G., H. on appointment, 2, 89 n. 

Lee, A. E., and H.'s reply to American Alli- 
ance (1876), 1, 477. 

Lee, Jane [Mrs. Hyde, Mrs. John Birchard], 
1, 13. 

Lee, R. E., in West Virginia (1861), 1, 130, 
135, 136, 143; Second Bull Run, 189-193; 
Antietam campaign, 193-201; H. on, 2, 
340 n. 

Lee, Sarah [Mrs. Daniel Hayes], 1, 4. 

Legal tenders. See Paper money. 

Legislature, Story on hasty legislation, 1, 
43; Matthews on danger in large party 
majority, 104; H. on excessive legislation 
and long sessions, 329, 336. 341, 345; cor- 
ruption as issue in Ohio (1875), 389 n. See 
also Congress. 

Leonard, J. E., and J. E. Anderson, 2, 158. 

Leppclmann, , and Birchard Library of 

Fremont, 1, 380 n. 

Leroy, , attempt to blackmail H., 1,475. 

Leslie, P. H., and Reconstruction Amend- 
ments (1871), 1, 358. 

Lesseps, Ferdinand de. United States and 
Panama Canal scheme, 2, 218-224. 

Letcher, John, enforcement of draft, 1, 169; 
house burnt by Hunter, H.'s disapproval, 
223. 

Letters of acceptance (1876), H.'s, 1, 460- 



466; Tilden's, 467; H.'s adhesion to, in 
inaugur.il, 2, 6, 11, 12 n. 

Lewis, William, and Hamilton's bank argu- 
ment, 1, 42. 

Lewi-sburg, W. Va.. battle (1862), 1, 177; 
Federal movement against (1863), 214. 

Lexington, Va., Hunter's occupation (1864), 
1, 223. 

Liberal Republicans, H. on convention (1872), 

1, 366, 367; on Greeley as candidate, 367, 
372-374; and campaign of 1876, 472. 

Library of Congress, H.'s interest, 1, 281. 

"Life-saving station" story, 2, 312 n. 

Lilienthal, Max, welcomes H., 2, 247. 

Lincoln, Abraham, H.'s advice on Cincin- 
nati speech (1859), 1, 110; H.'s impres- 
sions, 111; H. on campaign of 1860, 115, 
110; Cincinnati reception (1861), 118; 
H. on probable policy, 118; H.'s optim- 
ism (1801), 144, 145; H. on compensated 
emancipation, 157; and colors of 23d Ohio, 
203; H. expects reelection, 252; H. on 
assassination and fame, 271, 272; and res- 
toration of Union, 301; and Dickson, 
430 n.; H. on Gettysburg and, 2, 255; on 
issues of Civil War, 270-274; H. on, as 
President, 283, 387 n. ; H. on, as incarna- 
tion of Civil War ideas, 342, 343; basis of 
leadership, 343 n.; on attacks, 429 n. 

Lincoln, R. T., H. on presidential candidacy, 

2, 360. 

Literature, Emerson on lack of American 
imaginative men, 1, 63; on autobiographi- 
cal character of fiction, 63; H.'s reading, 
66-73, 79, 114 w., 179, 380 n., 2, 432; H. 
on early English poets, 1, 66; on Bible as, 
72. 

Little, John, in campaign of 1876, 1, 478. 

Livingston, R. R., on Hamilton, 1, 42. 

Local government, H. on increase of taxa- 
tion and debt in Ohio (1869), 1, 336, 338 n., 
339, 342; on corruption and investigation 
(1872), 344; as issue in Ohio campaign 
(1875), 387; H. on misgovernment and 
expenditures, 404, 408, 409; reform meas- 
ures, 410; H. on effect of application of 
national politics, 412; H. on avoiding 
debt, 2, 279. 

Locke, John, H. on doctrine of innate ideas, 
1, 69. 

Logan, J. A., in Republican National Con- 
vention (1876), 1, 444; on H.'s letter of 
acceptance, 466 n.; and H.'s Cabinet, 2, 
22, 29. 

Logan, Olive, and H., 2, 415 n. 

Loncart, battle, 1, 1, 2. 

London, Emerson on clubs 1, 61; on "good 
society," 62. 

London Times, on disputed election of 1876, 
1, 512. 

Long, .'Alexander, not renominated (1864), 
1, 238. 

Longfellow, H. W., on Goethe, 1, 44; on 
H.'s Cabinet, 2, 29 n.; on Mrs. Hayes, 
316 n. 

Longstreet, J.ames, on reconstruction, 1, 314. 

Lord, , of Cincinnati congressional can- 
didacy (1864), 1, 238. 

Los Angeles, H.'s visit, 2, 293. 

Louisiana, Wheeler Compromise, 1, 452 n.; 
H. and visiting statesmen, 495 «. , 496, 
498 n. ; H. on contest and results, 503, 
504, 506, 508 n.\ report to H. on Return- 
ing Board count, 504 n., 507; Grant and 
continuance of military protection of gov- 
ernment (1877), 2, 33 n., 35; rival govern- 
ments, 35; State affairs and disputed Fed- 



f 
1 



Iki 



INDEX 



475 



eral election, 35; Northern opinion of con- 
ditions, 36-38; H.'s policy and consis- 
tency, 38-40; difficulties of policy, 40; 
Matthews' letter to Packard, reply, 41, 
42; possible plans, 45; presidential com- 
mission, instructions, 45-49, 54-56; Eliot's 
letter on conditions, 46 n.-49 n.; New Or- 
leans petition to H., 56; conditions on 
arrival of commission, 57-59, 61, 62; legal 
legislature organized, 59, 61, 63; with- 
drawal of troops, fall of Packard's govern- 
ment, 60, 63; pledge of Democratic govern- 
ment, 60 n.\ Packard's address. 61; report 
of commission, 61-64; legal basis of Demo- 
cratic claim, relation to electoral count, 
62; Northern opinion of results, verdict of 
history, 64-68; accusation of bargain, 66, 
67; Federal offices for Returning Board 
and visiting statesmen, lOS; prosecution 
of Returning Board, 143; charge of Repub- 
lican bargain with Returning Board, 145, 
150, 157; suppression of negro suffrage 
(1878), 175. ,See aiso Reconstruction. 

Louisville, H.'s visit (1877), 2, 248-250. 

Louisville Courier- Journal, on H.'s contest 
with Congress (1879), 2, 206. 

Lovejoy, H. S.. in West Virginia (1862), 1, 
206. 

Lowe, J. W., killed at Carnifex Ferry, 1, 136. 

Lowell, J. R., to H. (1877) on report of in- 
tention to change electoral vote, 1, 500 n. ; 
on H.'s Cabinet, 2, 29 n. ; H. on appoint- 
ment to foreign mission, 89 n.; H. on writ- 
ings, 434 n. 

Loyal Legion, H. as commander, 2, 343; H. 
on purpose and teachings, 344-346; trib- 
ute to H., 404, 405. 

Lovaltv, Dana on, 1, 36. 

Luddington, H. C, at H.'s funeral, 2, 443. 

Lyceum, in Cincinnati, !» 60, 61; Emerson 
as lecturer, 61, 64. 

Lvman, Theodore, Peabody Education Fund, 
"2, 351. 

Lynchburg, Va., Hunter's advance and re- 
treat (1864), 1, 224; H.'s visit (1877), 2, 
250. 

Lytle, W. H., wounded at Carnifex Ferry, 
1, 136; War Democrat, 301. 

Macaulay, Lord, Emerson on, 1, 62, 63, 65. 

McBride, L. H., at Opequon, 1, 245. 

McCabe, L. D., at H.'s wedding, 1, 81; at 
H.'s silver wedding, 2, 318, 319; at Mrs. 
Haves' funeral, 39(). 

McCausland, John, and Federal railroad 
raid (1864), 1, 217, 219. 

McClellan, G. B., in West Virginia (1861), 
1, 128; H.on operations, 147, 161, 165, 168, 
17S, ISO, 181; restoration to command, 
191; popularity, 192; Antietam campaign, 
193-201; H. on removal, 204, 206; H. on 
nomination, 233 n., 236-238. 

McClure, A. K., on Mrs. Hayes as mistress 
of White House, 2, 299 n. 

McCook, G. W., desired as colonel by H., 1, 
127; campaign for governor (1871), 355; 
and Fifteenth Amendment, 300, 361. 

McCook, R. L., in West Virginia campaign 
(1861), 1, 132, 138, 139, 151; Mills Springs, 
wounded, 162; murdered, H. on, 186; War 
Democrat, 301. 

McCormick, R. C, from H. (1876) on cam- 
paign assessments, 1, 482, 482 n.; on Octo- 
ber States, 484; on TUden and Electoral 
Commission, 539; H. on bureau appoint- 
ment, 2, 89 n. 

McCrary, G. W., of joint committee on dis- 



puted election, 1, 524 n.; in H.'s Cabinet, 
2, 17, 22; confirmed, 28; as member of 
Cabinet, 31; appointment as judge, 32 n.; 
from H. (1877) directing removal of troops 
from Columbia State House, 52; civil serv- 
ice reform orders, 76 n.; and Bland Silver 
Bill, 123; and veto of Arniv Appropriation 
Bill, 186 n.\ at reunion of 23d Ohio (1877), 
247; in H.'s Southern tour (1877), 248.n.; 
humor, 303 n. 

McCulloch, Ben, Texan Ranger, 1, 52. 

McCuUoch, Hugh, and reduction of Federal 
debt, 2, 280. 

McCurdy, John, in West Virginia operations 
(1862), 1, 171, 178. 

McDowell, , in Cincinnati law office 

with H., 1, 93. 

McDowell, Irvin, denounced by soldiers, 1, 
192. 

McFarland.iMi.ss, inH.'s Southern trip (1877), 
2, 248 n. 

McGroarty, Stephen, wounded at Carnifex 
Ferry, 1, 136. 

Mcllrath, J. P., in Pearisburg raid (1862), 
1, 175 n.; major, 23d Ohio, 202. 

Mack.O. A., battery in West Virginia (1861), 
1, 137. 

McKee, Samuel, on effect on South of Demo- 
cratic success (1876), 1, 494 n. 

McKinley, William, on H.'s tact with new 
regiment, 1, 126; H. on (1862), 205; in 
Antietam campaign, 205 n.; on H.'s staff, 
240 n.; first vote, 263; on nomination of 
H. for Governor (1875), 386; opposes re- 
tirement of greenbacks (1878), 2, 129 n.; 
opinion of Anderson's testimony, 159 n.; 
oration at reunion of 23d Ohio (1877), 247; 
on H., 247 ii.\ social relations with Pres. 
H., 310 71.; H. on presidential candidacy 
(1888), 371, 372; H. on defeat (1890) and 
future governorship, 375; in Repubhcan 
Convention (1892), 376; at H.'s funeral, 
399, 400; tribute to H., 405; H.'s friend- 
ship, 422; on State acquisition of Spiegel 
Grove, 447. 

McLaughhn, George (or J. W.), Cincinnati 
volunteer home company, Ij 121. 

McLean, John, navigable-waters case by H. 
before, 1, 92. 

McLean, Washington, on disputed election, 

1, 538 n. 

McLin, S. B., "confessions" of Florida Re- 
turning Board, 2, 149, 1.59, 160. 
McAIahon, J. A., of Potter Committee (1878), 

2, 157 n.; and Federal election law rider, 
200. 

McMullen, J. R., battery in West Virgima 
campaign (1861), 1, 132, 134; (1862), 169, 
182; and Morgan's raid (1863), 210. 

McNeal, Sterling, H. on, 1, 50. 

McNeill, J. C, captures Crook, 1, 267. 

McPherson, Edward, in Republican Conven- 
tion (1876), 1, 444; speech notifying H. 
of nomination, 455; H. on bureau appoint- 
ment, 2, 89 n. , < „ 

Macready, W. C. H. on, as Hamlet, 1, 36. 

McVeagh, Wayne, on Southern issue (1876), 

1, 484; commission to Louisiana (1877), 

2, 54. . . .. „ 

McVey, , guerrillain West \irgmia, 1,163. 

Madison, James, political ethics, 1, 438 n.; 

H. on, and Constitution, 2, 264, 265; on 
democracy and public education, 202. 

Madison, Wis., H.'s speech (1878). 2, 259. 

Magoffin, Beriah, and .secession. 1, 121 n. 

Mallory, S. R., on Reconstruction Acts, It 
313. 



476 



INDEX 



Manchester, C. E., on H. at South Moun- 
tain, 1, 190 n. 

Manderson, C. F., at Grand Army Encamp- 
ment (1S92), 3, 393 n. 

Manning, T. C, on conviction of Anderson, 
3, 144. 

Mansfield, Sir James, Story on, 1, 35. 

Mansfield Liberal, on H. in campaign (1875), 

1, 406. 

Manual training, H.'s advocacy, 2, 356, 357. 

Marble, Manton, and Democratic platform 
(1876), 1, 467; charges against, as vi.siting 
statesman to Florida, Cipher Dispatches, 

2, 159, 160, 162, 164 n., 165; letter on reve- 
lations of Potter Committee, 160. 

Marietta, soldiers' reunion, H.'s speech 
(1877), 2, 245. 

Marion, Ohio, H.'s political speech (1875), 
1, 392-400. 

Markbreit, Leopold, partnership with H., 1, 
119; in West Virginia (1861), 131, 138. 

Marsh, G. P., H. on appointment, 3, 89 n.; 
and Washington Monument, 226 n. 

Marshall, John, Story on greatness, 1, 32; 
Jefferson on sophistry, 33; on Hamilton, 
42; on Wirt and Webster as pleaders, 45. 

Marshall, Humphrey, West Virginia opera- 
tions (1862), 1, 174, 176. 

Martineau, Harriet, on Cincinnati (1837), 

1. 56. 

Maryland, memorial to Congress on fraud 
issue, 2, 146-148, 156 n. 

Mason, George, on judicial dependence on 
public opinion, 1, 44. 

Mather, Cotton, Sparks on character, 1, 
33. 

Mathews, H. M., 4, in H.'s Southern tour 
(1877), 2, 248 n. 

Matthews, Stanley, on H.'s college traits, 1, 
19 n.; lawyer in Cincinnati, 57; on danger 
in large legislative majority, 104; plans 
for military service, 122; lieutenant-colo- 
nel, 23d Ohio, 124; tact with soldiers, 
126 n.; patriotism of mother, 129; in West 
Virginia campaign (1861), 130, 131; leave 
of absence, 143; colonel, 51st Ohio, 147; 
War Democrat, 301; on supposed Repub- 
lican defeat (1876), 493 n.; argument be- 
fore Electoral Commission, 531 n.; con- 
ference with Southerners on H.'s poUcy, 
533, 534, 2, 66, 67; on Davis and Electoral 
Commission, 1, 537 n.; to H. (1877) on 
precautions for journey, 2, 2; letters to 
Packard and Chamberlain, replies and 
candidacy for Senate, 41-44; H. and can- 
didacy, 44 n.; and New York Custom 
House appointments, 94; resolution on 
payment of bonds in silver, 128; charge 
of assurance to Louisiana Returning 
Board, 145, 148; appointment to Supreme 
Court, opposition to confirmation, 327 n. ; 
H.'s friendship, 421. 

Maynard, Horace, Postmaster-General, 2, 
32 n.; H. on appointment to foreign mis- 
sion, 89 n. 

Mead, W. R., furniture designed by, 2, 443. 

Meadow Bluff, W. Va., Federal troops at 
(1864), 1, 221. 

Medill. Joseph, on Democratic platform 
(1876), 1, 467 n.; on H.'s Southern policy, 

2, 38 n.; opposes veto of Bland Silver Bill, 
122 n. 

Meigs, J. R., retaliation for murder, 1, 252. 
Moline, J. F., Cincinnati volunteer home 

company, 1, 121. 
Merritt, E. A., contest over appointment as 

Surveyor, 2. 86, 87; and as Collector, 92- 



94; H.'s orders to, for reform in custom 
house, 95; on results of reform, 96 n. 

Merritt, Wesley, cavalry command in the 
Valley, 1, 232; Opequon, 239 n. 

Methodist Church, Mrs. Hayes' connec- 
tion, 1, 309; her interest in home missions, 
386. 

Mexican War, H. and enlistment, 1, 46-48; 
attitude of future Peace Democrats, 324. 

Mexico, H.'s order to pursue raiders over 
border, 2, 208-211. 

Miles, N. A., Ponca Indian Commission, Z, 
231 n. 

Miller, Mrs. A. H., and death of Mrs. Hayes, 
2, 390; H.'s friendship, 423. 

Miller, S. F., Electoral Commission, 1, 530 n. 

Mills Springs, buttle, 1, 162. 

Miner, J. L., lawyer in Cincinnati, partner of 
Gholson, 1, 58. 

Minority representation, H. and, on State 
boards, 1, 346. 

Mississippi, conditions (1866), 1, 309: H. on 
reconstruction, 337. See also Reconstruc- 
tion. 

Mississippi Index, on education of negroes, 

1, 314. 

Mississippi River, steamer life (1848). 1, 49. 
Mitchel, O. M., from Judge Lane (1S47) on 

H., 1, 47. 
Mitchell, John G., in H.'s Pacific Coast tour, 

2, 293. 

Mitchell, D. G., H. on writines, 1, 71. 

Mitchell, Laura (Piatt), at H.'s wedding, 1, 
81 ; on his honeymoon, 81 n. ; at H.'s silver 
wedding, 2, 318; and death of Mrs. Hayes, 
390. 

Money, fall of gold (1865), 1, 269. See also 
Inflation, Paper money, Resumption, Sil- 
ver. 

Monocacy, battle, 1, 227. 

Monopolies, H. on evils (1887), 2, 3S2-385. 

Monroe, Winnie, as servant in White House, 
2, 301 n. 

Moor, August, in West Virginia (1861), 1» 
131; captured in Antietam campaign, 167; 
in the Valley (1864), 223. 

Moore, F. W., in West Virginia (1861), 1* 
132. 

Moral sense, H. on Paley's discussion, 1, 68, 
69. 

Morgan, E. D., in Republican Convention 
(1876), 1, 473; H.'s campaign correspond- 
ent, 470 n.: and Conkling, 515. 

Morgan, J. H., raids (1862). 1, 184; (1863), 
210-212; at Wytheville (1864). 221. 

Mormons, H. on control, 2, 225 n., 365, 
366 ra. 

Mora Castle, Mississippi River steamer 
(1848), 1,49. 

Morrill, L. M., and Stalwarts, 1, 515. 

Morrison, W.R., of Potter Committee (1878), 
2, 157 n. 

Morton, G. R., and State Librarian, 1, 347. 

Morton, L. P. H.,on xace-presidential nomi- 
nation, 2, 371; at Grand Army Encamp- 
ment (1892), 293 n. 

Morton, O. P., in Ohio sound-money cam- 
paign (187,5), 1,405; and intiation, 417; 
as candidate for presidential nomination 
(1876), character, 41S; H. on, 419 n., 479 n., 
2, 247n.,2S4; and reformers, 1, 431; prob- 
able effects of nomination, 435 n., 436 n.; 
speech nominating, 446; in balloting. 448- 
451; withdrawn, 451; and H.'s letter of 
acceptance, 466 n.; H.'s campaign corre- 
spondent, 470 «.; and campaign in Indiana, 
478-480; on uniqueness of disputed elec- 



INDEX 



477 



tion, 491 n.; and Electoral Commission 
Bill, 524, 525 n.\ of Electoral Commission, 
530 71.; and H.'s Cabinet, antipathy to 
Harrison, 'i, 18, 21 n., 2.3; Chinese immi- 
gration investigation, 212; H.'s visit (1877), 
246 n. 

Mosby, J. S., in H.'s visit to Montpelier, 3> 
264 n. 

Mound City, disaster, 1, 180. 

Mount Vernon Democratic Banner, on H.'s 
valedictory at college, 1, 28. 

Mountain Cove, W. Va., Federal winter 
camp (1861), 1, 141. 

Mulligan, J. A., Kernstown, mortally wound- 
ed, 1, 229, 230. 

Murray, L. C, at Southern dinner in New 
York (1889), 3, 387 n. 

Music, H. on, 1, 81 n. 

Mussey, R. D., Cincinnati physician, 1, 48; 
at H.'s reunion of Literary Club, 2, 323. 

Nash, C. E., and J. E. Anderson, 3, 158. 
Nashville, H.'s visit (1877), 3, 250. 
Naiion, on decision of Electoral Commission, 

1, 530 n. ; on attitude of Southern Congress- 
men, 532 n.; on H.'s inaugural, 3, 15; on 
H.'s appointments, 108. 

National banks, veto of Refunding Bill as 

affecting circulation (1881), 3, 137-140. 
National Prison Association, H. as president, 

2, 346-348; H. on aims, 394; tribute to H., 
406. 

Nationalism. See Union. 

Naughton, James, wounded at South Moun- 
tain. 1, 200. 

Navigable waters, case on railway bridge, 1, 
93. 

Neal, T. S., in West Virginia (1862), 1, 171. 

Negro soldiers, H. on, 1, 209; opposition of 
Peace Democrats, 302; in American con- 
tests, 315; in regular army, 316. 

Negroes, H. on necessitv of protecting freed- 
men (1866), 1, 286, 287; H.'s impression of 
freedmen, 288; and Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 294; ante-bellum citizenship, 
315, 316; repeal of Ohio black code, 329; 
intimidation in South (1876), 486, 488; ex- 
pected effect of Democratic success on, 
493, 494 n., 496; H.'s inaugural on pro- 
tection, 3, 7, 8, 12, 12 n. ; on need of educa- 
tion, 8; place in H.'s Southern policy, 41, 
44, 46, 48 71., 64, 64 n., 66, 252; Peabody 
and Slater Funds, 350-354; H. on purpose 
of Lake Mohonk Conference, 354; on 
future of race, 355 n. ; Buckner on prob- 
lem (1889), 388 n. See also Negro soldiers. 
Slavery, Suffrage. 

Nepotism, H. and, 2, 75, 89 n., 420. 

Newark, N. J., founding, 1, 7 n. 

Newberry, J. S., Ohio Geological Survey, If 
347. 

New Braunfels, Texas, in 1849, 1, 53. 

Newbury, Rebecca [Mrs. John Russell], Ij 7. 

"New departure," H. on Democratic, in 
Ohio (1871), 1,355-361. 

New Hampshire, election (1877), 3, 89 n., 
90, 145. 

New Madrid, capture, 1, 179. 

New Market, Va., Sigel's defeat (1864), 1, 
222. 

New Mexico, illiteracy, 2, 291. 

New Orleans, cholera (1849), 1, 49, 54; H.'s 
visit (1866), 288. See also Louisiana. 

New Orleans Democrat, on H. in New Or- 
leans (1866), 1, 289. 

Newspapers, H. on reading, 1, 30, 3, 358 n. 

New York, importance in campaign of 1876, 



1, 481, 485, 486, 495; .Stalwart attitude in 
campaign, 506; election (1879), 206 n. 

New York City, Grant's funeral, 2, 354; 
Centennial of Washington's Inauguration, 
386. 

New York Custom House, investigations 
(1877), 3, 77, 91; H.'s reform order, 77- 
79; order defied, 85; suspension of oflicials, 
contest in Senate over new appointments, 
86-94; H.'s special me.ssage on, 93; re- 
forms under new officials, 95, 102. 

New York Evening Post, verses on H. (1878), 

2, 155 n.; on H.'s speech on nationalism 
(1879), 276. 

New York Herald, on H.'s attitude before 
Republican Convention, 1, 441 n.; on Ev- 
arts and State portfolio, 2, 24 n.; on car- 
petbag governments (1877), 40 n.; on 
H.'s appointments, 80 n.; on H. and con- 
test with Congress, 205 n.; on H.'s adapt- 
ability, 415 n. 

New York Postoffice, reforms, 2, 93, 96, 102. 

New York Sun, attacks on H., 2, 429, 430. 
See also Dana, C. A. 

New York Times, on H.'s last message as 
Governor (1877), 1, 412 n.; on H.'s atti- 
tude towards presidential candidacj', 427; 
on H.'s letter of acceptance, 466; on H.'s 
character, 505 n.; on Blaine's attack on 
H., 3, 16 n.; on Tilden and Cipher Dis- 
patches, 166 n. 

New York Tribune, on H. in Pennsylvania 
campaign (1875), 1, 407 7t.;on Matthews' 
letter to Chamberlain (1877), 2, 44 n.; on 
conditions in South Carolina, 49 n.; on re- 
moval of troops, 51 71.; on conditions in 
Louisiana, 57 7i., 60 ti.; on H. and nepo- 
tism, 75 n. ; on H. and office-seekers, 76 ti.; 
on Merritt as Collector, 96 n. ; and Cipher 
Dispatches, 161; on Cleveland at H.'s 
funeral, 399 n. 

New York World, on negro suffrage, 1, 317; 
on H. as presidential possibility (1875), 
424. 

Nicaragua Canal Company (1879), 2, 219. 

Nicholls, F. T., rival government in Louisi- 
ana (1877), 2, 35; interest in outcome of 
electoral count, 35; situation on arrival of 
commission, 56-59, 62; pledge, 60 ti.; and 
prosecution of Returning Board, 143, 
144 71. See also Louisiana. 

Nicholson, W. R., H. on, as preacher, 1, 58. 

Nineteenth Corps, in the Valley (1864), 1, 
230, 231; Opeciuon, 239-241, 251; Fisher's 
Hill, 249; Cedar Creek, 254, 255 n., 256, 
260, 262. 

Ninth Ohio. See McCook, R. L. 

Noble, J. W., at H.'s funeral, 3, 399. 

Nordhoff, Charles, on Republican platform 
(1876), 1, 445 71.; on Congressmen and 
H.'s letter of acceptance, 465 n.; on H. 
and Stalwarts, 472 n. 

Norton, C. E., on H.'s Cabinet appointments, 

3, 29 71. 

Norwich, Conn., Birchard family, 1, 13. 

Noyes, E. F., and first-call meeting in Cin- 
cinnati, 1, 120; campaign for Governor 
(1871), 355; H.'s reception (1872), 363; 
defeated for reelection, 381; as leader of 
Hayes forces in convention (1876), to H. 
on this, 442, 442 n., 444, 453 ti.; speech 
nominating H., 447; and chairmanship 
of National Committee, 471; from H. 
(1876) on sending representative to Wash- 
ington, 518; H. on appointment to foreign 
mission, 3, 89 n. ; charges against, as visit- 
ing statesman, 150, 159. 



478 



INDEX 



Noyes, G. W., on Russell descendants, 1, 8 n. 
Noyes, H. S., from H. (1S78) on nepotism, 

2, 75 n. 
Nu Pi Kappa, sectional society at Kenyon, 

1,27. 

Oath, H. on reconstruction and Iron-clad, 

1, 284, 2<S.t; repeal of Federal jurors' test, 

2, 170, 203 n. 

Osden, H.'s visit (1880), 2, 293. 
O'Higgins, Rev. T., in West Virginia (1861), 

1, 153. 

Ohio, Morgan's raid (186.3), 1, 210-212; 
election (1.SG3), 214; campaign of 18G7, 
290-328; negro suffrage defeated, 328, 
330; H. as Governor (18GS-72), recom- 
mendations and measures, 328-333, 339- 
350; repeal of black code, 329; attempted 
withdrawal of ratification of Fourteenth 
Amendment, 330, 331, 334; "vi.sible ad- 
mi.xture" law, 331, 335, 339, 346; campaign 
of 1869, 334-339; H. on Democratic legis- 
lature (1869), 334-336; increase in local 
taxation and debt, 335, 336, 338 n.\ H. and 
historical memorials, 349 ; portrnits of Gov- 
ernors, 349 n.\ campaign of 1871, Demo- 
cratic "new departure," 354-361; sena- 
torial contest (1872), 362, 363; ratifies 
Fifteenth Amendment, 346; H.'s toast to 
Kentucky and, 352, 353; elections (1873), 
381; (1874), 381; Allen's administration, 
382; H.'s nomination for Governor (187.5), 
382-387; sound money and Catholic 
schools issue, Geghan law, 387-392; Demo- 
cratic nominations, 388; public intere.'it 
in contest, 392; H.'s speeches, 392-406; 
local misgovernment, 404, 408, 409, 412; 
Republican success, 406, 2, 371 n.\ H.'s 
third inaugural, measures advocated, 408- 
410; his appointments, 410; his exercise of 
pardoning power, 411; his message (1877), 
411-413; strike of coal miners (1876), 439, 
440; change of date of State elections, 
484 n.\ day at Centennial, 485-488; in 
campaign of 1876, 481, 483-486, 488; H. 
on State campaign (1889), 2, 374, 375. See 
also Hayes, R. B. {Political life). 

Ohio Archseological and Historical Society, 
and Spiegel Grove, 2, 335 n., 446-450; 
H.'s interest, 355 n. 

Ohio College Association, H.'s address (1892), 

2, 395. 

Ohio regiments. See 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 
13th, 23d, 24th, 26th, 28th, 30th, 34th, 
36th, 79th, 89th. 

Ohio State University, H. and beginning, 1, 
3.39, 349; H. as trustee, 2, 355; H. on con- 
dition (1887), 355 n. 

Ohio Wesleyan University, H. as trustee, 2, 
355. 

Old Whitey, H.'s war horse, 1, 273 n., 2, 445. 

Opequon, battle, Sheridan's plan, 1, 239; 
Federal check, 239, 240; Crook's charsre, 
240-245, 251; Confederate retreat, 245; 
unjust newspaper reports, 250 n. 

Ord, E. O. C, on conditions in Arkansas 
(1866), 1, 309; military governor, 310; and 
Mexican depredations (1877), 3, 209. 

Ordinance of 1787, H. on essence, 2, 295. 

Oregon, H. on disputed election (1876), 1, 
508, 509; Cipher Despatches, 2, 161. 

Orr, J. L., on Peace Democrats and seces- 
sion, 1, 300. 

Otis, L. B., on Harrison, 2, 376. 

Pacific Coast, H.'s visit (1880), 2, 293-297; 
H. on future, 295. 



Packard, S. B., Grant's attitude (1877), 2, 
3.3 n.; rival government in Louisiana, 35; 
as burden to H.'s administration, 38 n., 
47 n.; Matthews' letter, reply, 41, 42; ana 
instructions to commission, 56; situation 
on arrival of commission, 56-.59, 61; fall, 
GO; address, 61 ; charge of a.ssurance of H.'s 
support, 145. See alno Louisiana. 

Paley, William, H. on, 1, 68, 69. 

Panama Canal, French plans, American in- 
terest, 2, 218; proposed American canal 
through Nicaragua, 219; French disavowal 
of control, 218; and Monroe Doctrine, 
H.'s messages, 218-222, 224; proposed 
American n.aval stations near, 219 n.\ 
American advi.sory committee, H. and 
Thompson's membership, 223; negotia- 
tions on neutrahty (1880), 224. 

Paper money, Ohio Democrats on payment of 
bonds in (1869), 1,338; appreciation under 
Grant, 370; silver certificates, 2, 121; re- 
tirement of greenbacks repealed (15>78), 
129; H.'s efforts for retirement, 1.34, 136; 
Sherman's opposition, 135. See also In- 
flation, National banks. Resumption. 

Pardons, H.'s exercise of power as Governor, 
1,411. 

Parisburg. See Pearisburg. 

Parke, Baron, Story on, 1, 35. 

Parker, Cortlandt, visiting statesman to 
Louisiana, report to H., 1, 507. 

Parker, Isaac, Story on, 1, 36. 

Patriotism, Dana on, 1, 3(5. 

Patton, R. M., on Reconstruction Acts, 1, 
313. 

Paxton's Cavalry, in West Virginia (18C2), 

1, 176. 

Payne, H. B., on H. as presidential possibil- 
ity, 1, 405; of joint committee on disputed 
election, 524 n.\ of Electoral Commission, 
530 n.; H. on election to Senate, 2, 384. 

Pea Ridge, H. on battle, 1, 165. 

Peabodv, G. H., Peabody Education Fund, 

2, 351. 

Peabody Education Fund, H.'s dinner for, 2, 
326; H.'s interest, 351. 

Peace Democrats, and coercion (1861), 1, 
296-300; Southern dependence on, to pre- 
vent war, 300; denunciation of war meas- 
ures and negro upHft, 302-306, 325, 326; 
reconstruction plan, 306, 307; patriotic 
utterances during Mexican War, 324; 
Civil War prolonged through attitude, 
326, 327. 

Pearisburg, Va., Federal raid and retreat 
(1802), 1, 172-175. 

Peirpoint. See Pierrepont. 

Pelton, W. T-, Cipher Dispatches, 2, 161- 
1G6, 167 n. 

Pendery, J. L., fugitive-slave case, 1, 95. 

Pendleton, G. H., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 
57; in State campaign (1867), 290; on se- 
cession and coercion (1861), 296-298; on 
crop of Butternuts (1862), 302; on the war 
and emancipation (1863), 303; on negro 
soldiers and suffrage, 316; campaign for 
Governor (1869), 338; and payment of 
bonds in greenbacks, 338; on infiation, 
394, 397. 402. 

Peninsular campaign, H. on, 1, 178, 180, 181. 

Pennsvlvania, sound-money campaign (1875), 
1, 407. 

Pennsslvania Buck Tails, at Cloyd Moun- 
tain, 1, 219 n., 222. 

Pensions, H.'s attitude, 2, 338; Arrears Bill, 
33.S /!.; H. and Cleveland's vetoes, 339, 
309, 373. 



INDEX 



479 



Perkins, G. C, welcomes H. (18S0), 2, 295. 

Perry, A. F., and civil stTvice reform, 1, 371; 
to H. (1876) on prospects of disputed elec- 
tion, 502. 

Phelps, Elizabeth S., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 316 n. 

Philadelphia, Union Convention (1860) and 
Iron-clad Oath, 1, 285; Ohio Day at Cen- 
tennial, 486— i88; permanent exhibition, 
2, 241. 

Philadelphia Press, on H. at Centennial, 1, 
488. 

Philadelphia Times, on life in White House, 
2, 307 n.; H. on attacks, 429 Ji. 

Phillips, Wendell, on H.'s Southern policy, 
2, 65. 

Philomathesian, sectional society at Kenyon, 
1, 27. 

Philosophy, H. on Emerson's news, 1, 62, 63, 
65, 66; on Aristotle's Ethics, 68; on Paley 
on moral sense, 68, 69; on Locke's innate 
ideas, 69. 

Piatt, Donn, H. on his jokes, 1, 139. 

Piedmont, Va., battle (1S64), 1, 223. 

Pierce, Franklin, campaign of 1852, 1, 102- 
104; H. on, and Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
105. 

Pierce, H. L., and H.'s letter of acceptance, 
1, 466 n. 

Pierpont, James, and beginning of Yale, 1, 
7 n. 

Pierrepont, Edwards, campaign correspond- 
ence with H. (1876), 1, 481; on H.'s inau- 
gural, 3, 15 n. 

Pierrepont, F. H., at reunion of Army of 
West Virginia (1892), 2, 393 n. 

Pierson, Abraham, removal to New Jersey, 
1, 7 n. 

Pinchback, P. B. S., seconds Morton's nomi- 
nation (1876), 1, 446. 

Pioneer Steamship Company of Great Lakes, 
1, 17. 

Pittsburg Christian Advocate, on Mrs. Hayes' 
Sunday evening gatherings, 3, 310 n. 

Platforms, Republican (1876), 1, 444, 445; 
Democratic, 467; civil service reform ig- 
nored (1880), 2, 104; on Chinese immigra- 
tion (1876), 212; Republican, on H.'s ad- 
ministration (1880), 238. 

Piatt, Emily, in H.'s Southern trip, 2, 248 n.; 
as guest at White House, 301, 312 n.; 
marriage in White House, 321-323. 

Piatt, Frances A. (Hayes). See Hayes. 

Piatt, Laura. See Mitchell, Laura (Piatt). 

Piatt, R. H., at H.'s silver wedding, 2, 318. 

Piatt, T. C, post-election emissary to H., 
1, 514 n., 515; and H.'s Cabinet, 24, 24 n., 
235 n.; H. on Garfield row, 362 n.; sup- 
ports Blaine (1892), 376. 

Platt, W. A., 1, 15 n., 84; army letter from 
H. (1861), 141. 

Pleading, Story and Greenleaf on necessity, 

1, 32, 36; Wirt and Webster as pleaders, 
45. 

Plummer, J. F., at Southern dinner in New 

York (1889), 2, 387 n. 
Plymouth, N. H., H.'s speech (1877), 2, 243. 
Poetry, H. on early English, 1, 66. 
Poindexter, , and H.'s Southern policy, 

2, 11 n. 

Point Pleasant, W. Va., Jenkins' raid, 1, 209. 

Poland, L. P., seconds Bristow's nomination 
(1876), 1,446. 

Political assessments. See Assessments. 

PoHtics, H. on avoidance, 1, 26, 31; Story on 
lawyers avoiding, 37; H. on lack of inter- 
est (1852), 103; on origin of parties, 295; 
H. and minority representation on State 



boards, 346; ethical improvement (1876), 
438 n.; H.'s order against participation by 
Federal officials, and assessments, 2, 77, 
79, 80, 85 n., 86 »., 89 n., 90, 103, 379; simi- 
lar order under W. H. Harrison, 79 n. See 
also Elections, and parties by name. 

Polls. See Voting. 

Pomeroy, T. M., in Republican Convention 
(1876), speech, 1, 444. 

Ponca Indians, episode, 2, 230-233. 

Poor whites, effect of slavery, 1, 161. 

Poore, B. P., "life-saving station" story, 2, 
312 n. 

Pope, John, New Madrid, 1, 179; Eastern 
command, 180; H. on, 181; Bull Run, 
189-193; unpopular, 192; military gover- 
nor, 310; to H. (1872) on H. and politics, 
366; H.'s friendship, 2, 421. 

Port Royal, H. on capture, 1, 154. 

Porter, A. G., H. on appointment, 2, 89 n. 

Porter, Fitz-John, H. on trial, 1, 204. 

Porter, J. D., welcomes H. (1877), 2, 250. 

Porter, Noah, on H., 3, 286; and H.'s offer 
of position, 287. 

Porter, P. B., Pioneer Steamship Company, 

1. 17. 

Portland, Oregon, H.'s visit (1880), 2, 293. 

Postoffice, monopoly, 1, 43. 

Potter, C. N., fraud issue investigation, 2, 
150, 151, 153, 156, 1.57 n. 

Potter Committee. See Election of 1876 
{Dispute). 

Powell, W. H.. Cedar Creek, 1, 254; at re- 
union of Army of West Virginia (1892), 2, 
393 n. 

Precedent, Sto y on legal, 1, 43. 

Prescott, B. F., elected as Governor, 2, 89 n. 

Presidency, opposition to third term, 1, 383, 
387; H. on single term, 460 n., 461, 463, 

2, 9, 13, 237 11., 378, 379; H.'s response to 
toast (1889), 380 n., 387 n. See also Elec- 
tions, and Presidents by name. 

President of the Senate, right to count elec- 
toral votes, 1, 510, 513. 

Presidential elections. See Elections. 

Prices in South (1802), 1, 1.58. 

Prince, L. B., contest over appointment as 
Naval Officer, 2, 80-88. 

Princeton, W. Va., Federal troops at (1862), 
1, 170, 171. 

Prison Association. See National. 

Public debt, H. on increase of local, in Ohio, 
1, 336, 338 n., 339, 400, 412; Ohio Demo- 
crats on payment of Federal (1809), 3.38; 
H.'s abhorrence, 345; local, .as issue in Ohio 
(1875), 387; H. on avoidance (1879), 278- 
281; policy of Federal Government, 280. 
See also Bonds. Paper money. 

Public opinion, H. on force and growth of 
unity, 3, 282, 284. 

Public service, H.'s aphorism, 2, 9, 13. See 
also Civil service. 

Public speaking, H. on prominent political 
speakers (1843-44), 1, 34, 35, 44; on mas- 
tering, 38, 44; on his own, 59, 101. 

Pugh, G. E., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 57; 
case with H., 92, 93; fugitive-slave case, 
94; apothegm, 425 n. 

Punishment, H. and reform in Ohio, 1, 339, 
348. See also National Prison Associa- 
tion, Pardons. 

Purcell, J. B., H. on patriotism, 2, 337 n. 

Quay. M. S.. supports Blaine (1892), 2, 376. 

"Rag-baby," name for inflation issue, 1» 
369. See also Inflation. 



480 



INDEX 



Railways, case on bridge over navigable 
waters, 1, 03; Federal movements arid 
plans against East Tennessee and Virginia 
Railroad (1<S02), 173, 180; Federal raids 
on it (1863), 211,214; (1801), 217-222 ; 
method of military destruction, 222 n.; 
H. on need of State regulation (1872), 
343; riots (1877), 2, 113. 

Raleigh, W. Va. See Beckley. 

Ramseur, S. D., Opequon, 1, 239. 

Ramsey, Alexander, Secretary of War. %, 
32 n.\ in Pacific Coast tour, 293. 

Randall, S. J., and committee on disputed 
election, 1, 518 n. ; and attempted filibus- 
ter, 532; Speaker (1877), 2, 82; (1879), 
177; ruling on fraud-issue investigation 
(1878), 151; appointment of Potter Com- 
mittee, 157 n. ; and Democratic coercive 
programme (1879), 179 n. 

Randsell, H. J., H. on attacks, 2, 429 n. 

Ransom, M. W., of joint committee on dis- 
puted election, 1, 524 n. 

Ratification, Story on debates of conven- 
tions, 1, 42; attempt by Ohio to withdraw, 
of Fourteenth Amendment, 330, 331, 334. 

Raymond, H. J., and Iron-clad Oath, 1, 284. 

Read, J. M., H. on appointment to foreign 
mission, 3, 89 n. 

Real property, H. on difficulties of law, 1» 
40, 41. 

Ream, Laura, on H.'s memory for faces, 3, 
416 n. 

Reasoner, Jacob, at Opequon, 1, 243 n. 

Reconstruction, Johnson's actions, 1, 276, 
307; task of 39th Congress, 277; Republi- 
can caucus on representation based on suf- 
frage, and on joint committee, 278, 279; 
H. on Johnson and Congress, 279, 280, 
284, 285; H.'s attitude as Congressman 
(1866), 280, 288; Fourteenth Amendment 
as prerequisite, 281 n. ; H.'scanipaign speech 
(1S66), 283-288; result^ of presidential 
policy, 283; Southern attitude and neces- 
sity of Iron-clad Oath, 283-285; "Rebel 
plan," 286, 300, 307, 319; fundamentals 
of congressional plan. Fourteenth Amend- 
ment, 287, 308; as issue in Ohio election 
(1867), 293, 320, 321; H. on conditions in 
South after rejectionof Fourteenth Amend- 
ment, 308; on Reconstruction Acts, 310-, 
311; on their success and Southern acqui- 
escence, 311-315, 319; on justice of negro 
suffrage (1867), 315-318; on necessity of, 
by loval men onlv, 321-324; P'ifteenth 
Amendment, 334, 335, 346, 3.53, 354, 369; 
of Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, 336, 337; 
H. on sincerity of "new departure" of 
Ohio Democrats (1871), 3.55-361; attitude 
of Kentucky and Indiana Democrats, 
357-359; H. on need of repose, 357; on 
peaceful results (1872), 369; as source of 
irritation (1876), 416; demand for cessa- 
tion of Federal interference, 416; Wheeler 
Compromise in Louisiana (1875), 452 n.; 
H.'s letter of acceptance on his attitude, 
461, 462, 464; Democratic platform on 
(18'76), 467 n.; conditions and Southern 
ascendency in Federal politics as issue in 
1876, 478, 481 n., 484, 490; H. on possible 
Southern Republican States, 485; H. and 
Taft on intimidation of negro vote, 486, 
488; expected effect of Democratic success, 
493, 494 n., 496; Southern interviews with 
H. during disputed election, 504, 505; 
attitude of Southern Congressmen during 
dispute and H.'s attitude, 517 n., 518 n., 
520, 520 n., 532, 534 n., 3, 11 n., 12 n.; 



Matthews-Gordon conference, question 
of bargain, 1, 533, 534, 2, 36 n., 66, 67; 
H.'s inaugur.%1 on policy, race protection 
and local self-government, 7, 8, 11-13; 
remedy in education, 8; Republican at- 
tacks on policv, 16, 82, 83 n., 145; ■'south- 
erners and H.'s Cabinet, 18, 20, 26, 29; 
Grant and policy of military protection 
(1877), 33, 35; method of establishment of 
white control, 34; end of carpetbag gov- 
ernment in Florida, 34; rival governments 
in Louisiana and South Carolina (1877), 
35; political effect. Northern opinion, 36— 
38; inconsistency of H.'s action considered, 
constitutionality of military protection, 
38-40; difficulty of problem, 40; purposes 
of H.'s policy, local self-government and 
protection of negro rights, 41, 44, 45, 48 n., 
64, 64 n., 66, 174-176, 252; Matthews' 
letters to Packard and Chamberlain, 
replies, 41-44; possible plans for Louisi- 
ana and South Carolina, 45; commission 
to Louisiana, instructions, 45, 47-49, 54- 
56; H.'s study of problem, 46; Eliot's let- 
ter on Louisiana conditions, 46 7t.-49 n.; 
conference of Chamberlain and Hampton 
with H., 49-51 ; withdrawal of troops from 
South Carolina State House, reception of 
news, 51, 52; Chamberlain's defense, 52; 
fall of his government, 53 ; his later review 
of affairs, 53 n.; New Orleans petition to 
H., 56; situation there on arrival of com- 
mission, 57-59, 61, 62; legal legislature 
organized, 59, 61, 63; troops withdrawn, 
fall of Packard's government, 60. 63; 
pledges of Democratic government, 60 n.\ 
Packard's address, 61 ; report of commis- 
sion, 61-64; legal basis of Democratic 
claim to Louisiana, 62; public opinion of 
H.'s action, historical verdict, 64-68; 
programme of repeal, through riders, of 
Federal control of elections, 170-173, 178; 
H.'s attitude towards Federal election laws, 
173-177; his determination to resist co- 
erced repeal, 179-185; vetoes, 185-204, 
205 n.; H. on reconstruction measures as 
spoils of victory, 195 n.: repeal of jurors' 
test oath, 203 n.; failure of programme, 
204; H.'s pleas for reconciliation (1877- 
79), 243-245, 246 n., 248 n., 249-253. 
282, 284, 340; continued suppression of 
negro suffrage, H. on this, 266, 274-276, 
293 n.; H. on leading ideas (1879), 281; 
on results of his policy (1891), 353 n., 354, 
430; on, as settled question (1881), 366; on 
negro suffrage as a permanency (1889), 
389 n.\ H.'s services to South, 407. 

Reed, Henry, at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Reed, T. B., of Potter Committee (1878). 2, 
157, 165. 

Reese, Jesse, captured as spy, 1, 166. 

Reform, H. and girls' school in Ohio, 1, 348. 

Reformation, H. on question of Divine in- 
terference, 1, 70 ?t. 

Refunding. See Bonds. 

Regicides in Connecticut, 1, 7. 

Religion, a "stir," 1, 11; Reformation as Di- 
vine interference, 70 n.; H. on true Chris- 
tianity, 79; H.'s belief, 2, 435-137. 

Remley, J. A., in West Virginia (1861), 1« 
134. 

Removal, Federal executive power, 1| 43. 
See also Civil service. 

Reno, J. L., H. incident in Antietam cam- 
paign, 1, 194, 194 n.-196 n. ; killed at South 
Mountain, 201. 



INDEX 



481 



Representation, Eepublican caucus on suf- 
frage as basis (1805), 1, 277-279.^ 

Republican party, H.'e early activity, 1, 
106 n.; causes of development, 113; and 
slavery, 113; overthrow of unit rule in con- 
ventions, 449, 2, 237, 240 n.; H. and re- 
habilitation, 109, 128 71., 22G, 227, 267, 297, 
298. See also Congress, Elections. 

Resumption of specie payments, attitude of 
Ohio Democrats (1871), 1, 356; act (1875), 
417; H. on, as issue in 1876, 427, 428, 
429 n.; Garfield on question of modify- 
ing act (1876), 428 n.; Republican plat- 
form on (1876), 444; H.'s letter of accept- 
ance on, 461, 464; Democratic platform 
on, 417; Tilden's letter of acceptance on, 
468; H.'s inaugural on, 2, 9, 14; H. on 
patronage and prevention of repeal of 
act, 110 n. ; H.'s attitude as President, 
Sherman's preparations, 113, 128, 131; 
attempt to repeal act, 113, 115, 129; H.'s 
message on necessity, 115; H. on attempt 
to repeal, 131; accomplished, effect, 131, 
133; H.'s credit for, 132; H. on danger of 
disturbing, 262, 263; and election of 1878, 
267; H. on results, 277. See also Inflation, 
Paper money. 

Reynolds, E. L., killed at South Mountain, 
1, 200 n. 

Reynolds, J. F., in West Virginia campaign 
(1861), H. on, 1, 132, 133, 135, 136. 

Reynolds, R. M., H. on bureau appoint- 
ment, 2, 89 n. 

Reynolds, W. C, tribute to H., 2, 408. 

Rhode Island, election (1877), 2, 90. 

Rice, A. H., considered for Cabinet, 2, 17. 

Richmond, W. C, adventures as Union man, 
1, 166. 

Richmond, Va., H. on capture, 1, 270, 271; 
H.'s visit (1877), 2, 254 n. 

Richmond £a:am»ner, on Reconstruction Acts, 
1, 311. 

Ricketts, J. B., Opequon, 1, 240; Fisher's 
Hill, 248, 249. 

Riders, attempted use to repeal Federal 
election regulations (45th Congress), 2, 
170, 172; renewal of programme (46th 
Congress), 177-179; H.'s determination 
to resist, 179-185; practice, 180, 184, 190; 
vetoes of these bills, 185-194, 197-203, 
205 n.; failure of programme, 204. 

Riggs, G. W., Peabody Education Fund, 2, 
351. 

Ripley, Ohio, H.'s speech (1885), 2, 350 n. 

Ritter, M. V., in West Virginia (1862), 1, 
170 n. ; wounded at South Mountain, 200. 

Road, , lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 58. 

Roberts, W. H., of New Orleans Times, inter- 
view with H. (1876). 1, 504, 505. 

Robeson, G. M., at dinner with H., 2, 327 n. 

Robinson, J. C, and 23d Ohio, 1, 125. 

Robinson, Lucius, defeat for reelection 
(1879), 2, 206 n. 

Robinson, Stuart, welcomes H. (1877), 2, 
249. 

Rodes, R. E., Opequon, 1, 239. 

Rogers, W. K., H.'s law partner, 1, 94; in 
H.'s visit to Montpelier, 2, 264 n. ; as H.'s 
private secretary, 301, 302; H. on, 302 n.; 
H.'s friendship, 321 n.; at reunion of Lit- 
erary Club, 323. 

Roman Catholic Church, interference in 
public schools as issue in Oliio (1875), 1, 
387-391; Geghan Law, 388, 399, 400; H.'s 
speech on issue, 397-401 ; effect of paro- 
chia,l schools, 398; repeal of Geghan Law, 
410; Republican f^atform (1876) and H.'s 



letter of acceptance on school question, 
445, 461; H.'s attitude as is.«iue in 1876, 
476-478, 485; H. on virtues, 2, 337 n. 

Roosevelt, Theodore (Ij, contest over ap- 
pointment as Collector, 2, 86-88; death, 
92 n. 

Roosevelt, Theodore [2], and H., 2, 422. 

Root, G. F., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 317 n. 

Rosecrans, W. S., colonel, 23d Ohio, 1, 124; 
assumes command, speech, 125; brigadier- 
general, 126; commands in West Virginia, 
128; advance against Floyd and Wise, 
Carnifex Ferry, 129-138; rumored cap- 
ture, 135; later movements and winter 
quarters, 138-142; newspaper complaints 
against, 143; H. on superseding liuell, 
204; Chickamauga, 213; declines nomi- 
nation for Governor (1869), 338; at re- 
union of 23d Ohio (1877), 2, 247; at re- 
union of Army of West Virginia (1S92), 
2, 393 n. 

Rosetta fugitive-slave case, 1, 94, 95. 

Rosser, T. L., defeat by Custer, 1, 253; Cedar 
Creek, 255. 

Rousseau, L. H., and Iron-clad Oath, 1, 284. 

Rudy, Ella, on H., 1, 201 n. 

Rudy, Jacob, H.'s convalescence at house, 
1, 200, 201. 

Rusk, J. M., at H.'s funeral, 2, 399. 

Rus.sell, A. P., from H. (1859) on Lincoln's 
speech, 1, 110. 

Russell, Abigail (Whiting), 1, 7. 

Russell, D. A., Opequon, killed, 1, 240. 

Russell, G. P., Peabody Education Fund, Z, 
351. 

Russell, John [1], immigrant, career, 1, 6. 

Russell, John |2], career, 1, 7. 

Russell, John [3, g.s.], career, 1, 5, 8. 

Russell, Mrs. John (Smith), 1, 7. 

Russell, Mary (Talcott), 1, 7. 

Russell, Rebecca [Mrs. Ezekiel Hayes], 1, 
5, 8. 

Russell, Rebecca (Newbury), 1, 7. 

Russell, Rebecca (Whiting), 1, 7. 

Russell, Samuel, career, 1, 7; and beginning 
of Yale, 7 n. 

Russell, Sarah (Trowbridge), 1, 5, 8. 

Sacramento, H.'s speech (1880), 2, 295, 296. 
St. Clair, Arthur, H. and purchase of papers, 

1' 349. ,. . ^, 

St John, W. P., at Southern dinner in New 

York (1889), 2, 387 n. 
St. Joseph, H.'s speech (1879), 2, 281. 
St. Louis Republican, on H. and South, i, 

St Paul, H.'s speech (1878), 2, 257-259. 

Salt Lake City, H.'s visit (1880), 2, 293. 

Salt works, H.'s raid, 1, 187. 

San Antonio, in 1849, 1, 53, 54. 

San Francisco, H.'s visit (1880), 2, 293; H. 

on future, 295. . . 

San Francisco News Letter, on H. 8 visit, i, 

294 n. ■ ■, ,.., 

Sand, George, Emerson on writmgs, 1, 63. 
Sandemanians in Connecticut, 1, 9. 
Sandusky Bay, bridge case, 1, 92. 
SantaFe, H.'s visit (1880), i, 293. 
Sargent, A. A., opposition to H., 2, 89, 90. 
Saunders, James, and Mrs. Hayes, 1, 20i ru 
Scammon, E. P., colonel, 23d Oiuo, H. on, 1, 

127, 167 n., 168; in We.it Virginia (1^61), 

132 134 152, 153; commands brigade, lOo; 

and Pearisburg raid (1862), 1'2, 175, 1/6; 

operations (1S62), 186; South Mountain. 

198; commands division, 200; message to 

H. after South Mountiun, 201; brigadier- 



482 



INDEX 



general, 202; movement against Raleigh 
(lSi')3), 210; and Morgan's raid, 210; cav- 
alry raid to W>'theville, 212; movement 
agitinst Lewisburg, 214; captured, 215; 
at reunion of 23d Ohio (1877), 2, 247. 

Scenery, H. on West Virginia, 1, 130, 144, 162. 

Schenck, R. C, brigade in West Virgmia 
(Ibijl), 1. 139; pursuit of Floyd, 153-156; 
popularity, 192; H. on superseding Wool, 
204; H. on, as Congressman (1S6.5), 277; 
and representation based on suffrage, 277; 
political ethics, 438 n. 

Schofield, J. M., on conditions in Virginia 
(1S66), 1, 309; military governor, 310; 
and liOyal Legion, 3, 344 n. ; at Grand 
Army Encampment (1892), 393 n. 

Schurz, Carl, in Ohio sound-money cam- 
paign (1875), 1, 405; and conference of 
Republican reformers (1876), 430; from H. 
(1876) on single term, 460 n.,H.'s campaign 
correspondent, 470 n. ; on Chandler as cam- 
paign manager, 471 n.; from H. on tax re- 
turns, civil service reform, 475 n.; from 
H. on taking a hopeful tone, 479 n.; with 
H. on campaign assessments, 482 n.; in 
the campaign, 479; from H. on visiting 
statesmen, 498 n.; from H. on justice of 
Louisiana results. 508 n.; with H. on Elec- 
toral Commission Bill, 523, 525 n.; con- 
sulted on H.'s Cabinet, 2, 17; offer of Cabi- 
net position, reply, 19, 20, opposition to 
confirmation, 24-29, 82, 362 n.; character 
as member of Cabinet, 30; on basis of 
spoils-system appointments, 70 n.; civil 
service reform bill (1869), 71 n.; reforms 
in department, 76; and Bland Silver Bill, 
123; opinion of Anderson's testirnony, 
159 n.; and veto of Army Appropriation 
Bill fl879), 186 n.; and French Panama Ca- 
nal, 221 n.; Indian policy, 229; and Ponca 
Indian episode, 230-233; in H.'s South- 
ern trip, 248 n; in visit to Montpelier, 
264 n. ; humor, 303 n. ; social relations w-ith 
Pres. H., 310 n.; and .^rre.irs of Pensions 
Bill, 338 71.; and Cleveland and civil serv- 
ice reform, 368; tribute to H., 403; H.'s 
friendship, 422. 

Soofield, G. W., H. on bureau appointment, 
2. 89 n. . , „ 

Scotland, battle of Lonoart, 1, 1, 2. 

Scott, Matthew, Revolutionary soldier, 1, 

Scott, T. A., and disputed election, 1, 520. 

Scott, Sir Walter, H.'s reading, 1, 67, 70. 

Scott, Will, at H.'s wedding, 1, 81. 

Scott, Winfield, H. on appearance and visit 
to Ohio (1851), 1, 101 n., 102 n.; on law, 
101 n.; H. on defeat (1852) and character, 
103, 104, on belligerent non-combatants, 
2, 251 n. , ■ ^ :, 

Sears, Barnas, Peabody Education Fund, 

Seattle, H.'s visit (1880), 3, 293. 

Secession, slavery as cause, 1, 112-114; H. 
on pre-election threats, 116; Northern dis- 
may, 116; Cincinnati peace meeting, 116; 
H.'s attitude, 117; H on Lincoln's prob- 
able policy, 118; doctrines relied on, 295. 

Second Virginia (Federal), in West Virginia 
operations (1862), 1, 171, 173. 

Secret societies, H. on, 3, 337 n. 

Seeson, , and Morgan's raid, 3, 212 n. 

Seigniorage, in Bland .Silver Bill, influence 
on Sherman, 3, 121 n. 

Self-control, H. on culture, 3, 395 n. 

Self-esteem, H. on. 1, 19, 20. 

Senate, suggestion of unequal representa- 



tion (1899), 2, 388 n.; H. on this, 389 n. 
See also Congress. 

Senatorial courtesy, and civil service reform, 
3, 70, 86, 87, 90. 

Settle, Thomas, considered for H.'s Cabinet, 
2, 17. 

Seven Days, H. on, 1, 181. 

Seventh Virginia Cavalry (Federal) , in opera- 
tions of 1864, 2, 217. 

Seventy-ninth Ohio, H. and colonelcy, 1, 
184, 187, 188, 192, 201, 202. 

Seymour, Horatio, H. on policy (1862), 1, 
204; H. on nomination (1868), 331. 

Shafter, W. R., and Mexican depredations 
(1877), 2, 209. 

Shaw, A. D., post-election visit to H. in be- 
half of Conkling, 1, 514-516. 

Shellabarger, Samuel, H. on (1865), 1, 277; 
and representation based on suffrage, 278; 
from H. (1876) on legal contest over dis- 
puted election, 513 n.; to H. (1877) on 
electoral count, 532 n. 

Shenandoah Valley, Sigel's defeat (1864), 1, 
222; Hunter's advance and retreat, 222- 
226; Early's Washington raid, 227; Sheri- 
dan's command, 227, 231; Federal con- 
fusion under Wright, 228, 231; Kemstown, 
229; Sheridan's cautious policy, political 
phase of campaign, 232, 233, 236; Federal 
advance, 235; Berryville, 236; Opequon, 
238-246, 251; Fisher's Hill, 247-251; de- 
struction, 252; Custer's defeat of Rosser, 
2.53; Confederate advance, 253; Cedar 
Creek, 253-262. 

Shepard, E. F., dinner during Centennial of 
Washington's Inauguration, Z, 387 n.- 
389 n. 

Sheppard, E. T. on Black and disputed 
election, 1, 531 n. 

Sheridan, G. A., in campaign of 1876, 1, 479; 
to H. on Louisiana contest, 504. 

Sheridan, P. H., Valley command, forces, 1, 
227; cautious policy, 232, 233, 236; ad- 
vance, 235; Opequon, 238-246, 251; 
Fisher's Hill, 247-251; and Crook, 251; 
destructions, 252; return to Fisher's Hill, 
253 ;1 departure for Washington, 254 ; his 
"terrible oath" at Cedar Creek, 257 n.; 
ride to Cedar Creek, 258-260; victory there, 
260-262; first vote, 263, 264; and news- 
paper injustice to Crook's corps, 264; and 
promotion of H. 265; in final campaign, 
270; on conditions in South (1866). 309; 
military governor, 310; Grant on proposed 
removal as governor (1867), 321; endorses 
H.'s presidential candidacy, 426; at re- 
union of 23d Ohio (1877), 3, 247; H.'a 
friendship, 421. 

Sherman, John, contest for reelection (1872), 
H.'s attitude, 2, 362, 363; in Ohio campaign 
(1875), 392; pioneers for H.'s presidential 
nomination, 421. 426; from H. (1S7C) on 
sound-money issue, 429 n.; with H. on can- 
didacy for nomination, 433; on wisdom of 
nomination of H., 454 n.; H.'s campaign 
correspondent, 470 n.; on H. and count in 
Louisiana, 495 n.; reports to H. on contest 
there, 502, 503, 507; with H. on visit of 
Conkling emissary, 514 n.; from H. on pre- 
senting H.'s views during contest in Con- 
gress, 514 n., 519 n.; with H. on Electoral 
Commission Bill, 521 n., 522, 524 n.,526 n.; 
conferences with Southerners on H.'s 
policy, 534; letters with H. on Southern 
policy, 534 n., 2, 36 n.; and time of H.'s 
arrival at Washington, 3; H.'s host there, 
5; consulted on H.'s Cabinet, 17; conaid- 



INDEX 



483 



ered for Cabinet, 17; offer of Treasury 
portfolio, IS; to H. (1877) on J. E. John- 
ston and Cabinet, 20 n.; nomination for 
Cabinet confirmed, 26, 27; character as 
member of Cabinet, 30; on Grant's atti- 
tude towards Louisiana government (1877), 
33 n.; and reform in New York Custom 
House, 77, 91, 91 n.; and resumption, 112, 
128, 129, 132; and Bland Silver Bill, 121, 
123; opposes retirement of greenbacks, 
130, 135; on Refunding Bill (1881), 138; 
charge of bargain with Louisiana Return- 
ing Board, 145, 146, 150, 157; opinion of 
Anderson's testimony, 159 n. ; on report of 
Potter Committee, 167 n.; and veto of 
Army Appropriation Bill, 186 n.; candi- 
dacy for presidential nomination (1880), 
233 n.; character as candidate, 234, 237; 
Grant on (1879), 236 n.; H. on, as Secre- 
tary of Treasurj', 262; humor, 303 n., 
social relations with Pres. H., 308; H. on 
candidacy (1884), 366, 367; (1888), 369- 
371; from H. (1888) on defeat for nomi- 
nation, 372; H.'s friendship, 422. 

Sherman, W. T., reported pro-slaverv sym- 
pathy, 1, 179; H. on army (1864), 237; H. 
on march to the sea, 264, 265; on negro 
suffrage, 316; endorses H.'s presidential 
candidacy, 427; and death of son during 
war, 459; and Cabinet position for J. E. 
Johnston, 2, 20; in H.'s Western trip (1879), 
281 n.; in Pacific Coast tour (1880), 293; 
social relations with Pres. H., 306, 310 n. ; 
and Loyal Legion, 344 n.; H. at funeral, 
360; H. on, as presidential possibility, 
367; H.'s friendship, 421. 

Sickles, D. E., on conditions in South Caro- 
lina (1866), 1, 309; military governor, 310. 

Sidney, Ohio, H.'s speech (1867), 1, 321-327. 

Sigel, Franz, popularity, !» 192; as general, 
193; command (1864), 217; defeat, 222; 
retreat before Early, 227. 

Silver, demand for free coinage, 2,113-115, 

119, 130; Illinois bill for legal tender, 114; 
Bland Bill, 115, 120; H.'s messages on 
true principles of bimetallism, 116, 118; 
on free coinage as violating public faith, 
117-119; H.'s comments on Bland Bill, 

120, 122; international conference, 121, 
127 n.; Sherman and Bland Bill, 121; 
efforts to prevent veto, 122 n., 123 n.; 
Cabinet on bill, 123, 124; veto of bill as 
violating public faith, 124-126; passage 
over veto, 126; justice of veto, 127; bill 
in operation, effect, 127; concurrent reso- 
lution to pay bonds in, 128; H. on failure 
to circulate, 134, 136; H.'s efforts for re- 
peal of Bland Act, 134, 137. See also Infla- 
tion. 

Silver wedding in White House, 2, 318-321. 

Simpson, J. H., and 23d Ohio, 1, 125. 

Simsbury, Conn., Hayes family, 1, 4. 

Sinking fund, H. on continuance, 2, 135. 

Sixth Corps, in the Valley (1864), 1, 230, 
231; Opequon, 239-241, 246, 251; Cedar 
Creek, 253, 255 n., 262. 

Sixth Ohio. See Guthrie Grays. 

Skiles, J. W., in West Virginia (1861), 1, 140; 
wounded at South Mountain, 200. 

Slater, J. F., Slater Fund, 2, 352. 

Slater, W. A., Slater Fund, 2, 352. 

Slater Fund, H.'s interest, 2, 352. 

Slavery, H.'s neutral position at college, 1, 
26, 27; sectional skirmish at Harvard 
(1844), 41; influence of business on discus- 
sion, 56; H. on fundamental basis of South- 
ern politics (1854), 105; on results of cam- 



paign of 1856, 106, 107, 114; as cause of 
disunion, 112-114, 179,300; H. on solution 
(1862), 157; effect on poor whites. 161; 
H. on dissolution, 181; growth of political 
power and opposition, 295, 296; H. on re- 
sponsibility for, 2, 350 n. See also .Aboli- 
tionists, Contrabands, Emancipation, Fugi- 
tive-slave, Negroes. 

Smalley, E. V., on Grant's candidacy for 
1880, 2, 235 n.; on reception of H. in New 
England (1877), 243 n. 

Smith, Abigail (Chandler), 1, 10. 

Smith, Allie, as guest at Wiute House, 2, 
312 n. 

Smith, C. B., lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 57; 
candidacy for City Solicitor, 108. 

Smith, Chloe [Mrs. Rutherford Hayes], 1, 5. 

Smith, DeH. K., wounded at South Moun- 
tain, 1, 200; from H. (1876) on presiden- 
tial candidacy, 429. 

Smith, Mrs. Elizabeth, 1, 11. 

Smith, Mrs. Henry [Mrs. John Russell], 1, 7. 

Smith, Israel, career, 1, 9, 10. 

Smith, John [1], of Wethersfield, 1, 8. 

Smith, John [3], character, 1, 11. 

Smith, Richard, on H.'s candidacy for Con- 
gress (1872), 1, 368; from H. (1875) on 
nomination for Governor, 384. 

Smith, Samuel, of Wethersfield, immigrant, 
career, 1, 8. 

Smith, T. C. H., suggests H. for President 
(1875), 1, 425; and J. E. Anderson, 159 ?».; 
at H.'s reunion of Literary Club, 323. 

Smith, W. H., and biography of H., 1, vii, 
viii; H. to (1864) on congressional election, 
234; (1867) on candidacy for Governor, 
291; forecast Republican ticket (1876), 
426; on Noyes as leader of H. forces in con- 
vention. 453 n. ; H.'s campaign correspond- 
ent, 470 n.; from H. on American Alli- 
ance, 477; on prospects, 481; on assess- 
ments, 483 n.; on withholding commit- 
ments, 520; view of Davis and Electoral 
Commission, 537; accompanies H. to Wash- 
ington (1877), 2, 4; consulted on H.'s Cabi- 
net, 17; from H. (1888) on Conkling, 24 n.; 
(1877) on senatorial dictation of appoint- 
ments, 87 n.; (1879) on Democratic coer- 
cive programme, 179 n.; (1880) on nomi- 
nation of Garfield, 240; and H.'s offer of 
private secretaryship, 302; from H. (1887) 
on Ohio State University, 355 n.; (1881) 
on Arthur's message, 366 n. ; opposition 
to Blaine (1888), 370 n.; from H. (1892) 
on election, 377 n.; on H. and annexation 
of Canada, 377, 378; at H.'s funeral, 400; 
H.'s friendship, 421,424; H. on this (1881), 
425. 

Sniffen, C. C, letter on Grant's Louisiana 
policy (1877). 2, 33 n. 

Social conditions. See Charity, Econoniic 
conditions, Education, Government, Lit- 
erature, Negroes, Philosophy, Punishment, 
Religion, Social life. Travel. 

Social life, Cincinnati (1850), 1, 36; Emerson 
on London, 61, 62. See also White House. 

Sondershoff, Charles, in West Virginia (1861), 
1. 132. 

Sound money. See Inflation, Resumption, 
Silver. 

South, H. on political sentiment (1854), 1, 
105; H.'s tour (1877), 2, 248-2.'')3; effect 
of tour, 254; H. and Federal aid of educa- 
tion, 288, 350, 365, 368 ; immigration avoids, 
289; H. on gain through Ci\-il War, 342; 
H. and Peabody and Slater funds, 350- 
354; H.'s trip (1892), acknowledgment of 



484 



INDEX 



debt to him, 353 n. See also Civil War, 
Negroes, Reconstruction, Slavery, State 
sovereignty. 

South Carolina, conditions (1866), 1, 300; 
Federal protection in election of lS7tj. 
489 n.; decision of Electoral Commission 
on vote, 530 n.; rival state governments 
(1877), 2, 35; State affairs and disputefl 
election, 35; Northern opinion, 30-38; H.'s 
attitude and consistency, 38—10; Mat- 
thews' letter to Chamberlain, reply, 42- 
44; conference of Hampton and Chamber- 
lain with H., 49-51 ; removal of troops from 
State House, 51, 52; fall of carpetbag 
government, 52, 53; Chamberlain's ad- 
dress, 52; his later review, 53 n.; revela- 
tion of Cipher Dispatches, 163; suppres- 
sion of negro suffrage (1878), 175. iSee also 
Reconstruction. 

South Mountain, battle, 1, 198-200. 

Spalding, R. P., H. on, 1, 277. 

Sparks, Jared, lecture on colonial history, 1, 
33. 

Sparrow and Matthews, law firm in Cincin- 
nati, 1, 28. 

Spencer, G. E., fears for patronage under H., 

1, 515. 

Spenser, Edmund, H. on, as poet, 1, 66. 

Sperry, C. A., in West Virginia (1861), 1, 
133, 137; Pearisburg raid (1862), 174. 

Spiegel Grove, H. occupies and improves 
(1873), 1, 376; described, 2, 331-335, 441- 
446; origin of name, 331 n.; State property, 
335 n.. 446-150. 

Spofford, A. R., on H.'s intere.st in Library 
of Congress (1866), 1, 282 7i.; at H.'s re- 
union of Literary Club, 2, 323, 324; H.'s 
friendship, 421. 

Springer, W. M., on joint committee on dis- 
puted election 1, 524 n.; and Potter Com- 
mittee (1878), 2, 156, 1.56 n., 157 n., 165. 

Springfield, 111., H.'s visit and speech (1879), 

2, 281, 282. 

Springfield RepubHcan, on H. as presidential 
possibility (1875), 1, 424. _ 

Stairwalt, Andrew, H. on, in West Virginia 
(1862), 1, 186. 

Stallo, .J. B. and first-call meeting at Cin- 
cinnati, 1, 120. 

Standard Oil Company, H. on, 2, 384. 

Stanton, E. M., H. on (1862), 1, 161; and 
exchange of Crook, 26S. 

State sovereignty. Story's denial, 1, 41; and 
disunion, 296; and attempted repeal of 
Federal election laws (1879), 2, 181, 185; 
H. on war settlement of doctrine, 270- 
274, 276, 281, 282, 292 n., 296; Lincoln on 
sophism, 272, 273. See also Secession, 
Union. 

Staunton, Va., Hunter's occupation (1864), 

1, 223. 

Stearns, B. F., at Opequon, 1, 243 n. 
Steedman, J. B., War Democrat, 1, 301. 
Stenger, W. S. of Potter Committee (1878), 

2, 157 n., 165. 

Stephens, A. H., "corner-stone" speech, 1, 
310; and H.'s title to presidency, 539; op- 
poses fraud issue (1878), 2, 153; on close 
of H.'s administration, 328 n. 

Stephenson, R. H., Cincinnati volunteer 
home company, 1« 121; H.'a friendship, 2, 
321 n. 

Stephenson, Fort, at Fremont, present use 
of site, 1, 77 n. 

Sterne, Laurence, H. on Tristram Shandy, 1, 
71, 79. 

Stevens, Tbaddeus, and Republican caucus 



on reconstruction (1S65), 1, 278; H. on 

(1865), 278 r». 

Stewart, J. A.. Slater Fund, 2, 352. 

Stickney, William, Ponca Indian Commis- 
sion, 2, 231 n. 

Stillwell, , as office-seeker, 2, 75 n. 

".Stir," as name for revival, 1, 11. 

Stockton, Thomas, H. on, as lecturer, 1, 
61. 

Stoddard, W. O., from H. (1899) on ex-Presi- 
dents, 2, 336 71. 

Stone, Rev. M., to H. (1877) on negroes and 
H.'s policy, 2, 64 n. 

Storer, Bellamy, lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 57; 
and Scott's visit to Ohio (1851), 101 n.; 
and first-call meeting, 120. 

Storrs, Experience, company at Bunker Hill, 
1, 13. 

Story, Joseph, Dana on Law School under, 
1, 31; diary of H. on lectures: on requisites 
of legal character, 31; manner as lecturer, 
32; on pleading and evidence, 32; on great- 
ness of Marshall, 32; on legal ethics, 32, 
33; on lawyer's library, 33; on Jeflerson on 
Marshall, 33; on moral eminence of law- 
yers, 33; on betting, 34; on English judges, 
35; on Judge Parker, 36; on abolitionists 
and Constitution, 36; on law as career, 
avoidance of politics, 37; on sophism of 
State sovereignty, 41; on Declaration of 
Independence, 41 ; on weakness of Confed- 
eration, 42; on ratification debates, 42; on 
greatness of Hamilton, his unanswerable 
bank argument, 42; on precedent, 43; on 
.settled constitutional questions, 43; con- 
stitutional theory, 43; on Gallatin and 
Hamilton as financiers, 44; on Wirt and 
Webster as pleaders, 45. 

Stoughton, E. W., visiting statesman to 
Louisiana, report to H., 1, 507; H. on ap- 
pointment to foreign mission, 2, 89 n. 

Stout, F. A., visit to H., on election in New 
York (1876), 1, 506. 

Straight, J. A., and J. E. Anderson, 2, 158. 

Street, A. R., Russell ancestrj', 1, 8 n. 

Strike, H. and, of coal miners (1876), 1, 439, 
440; railroad (1S77). 2, 228. 

Strong, Caleb, on hasty legislation, 1, 43. 

Strong, William, of Electoral Commission, 
1, 530 n. 

Stuart, A. H. H., on illiteracy in South, 2« 
290; Peabody Education Fund, 351. 

Stuart, J. E. B., raid in Pennsylvania (1862), 
1, 204. 

Suffrage, Republican caucus on basing rep- 
resentation on (1865), 1, 277-279; attitude 
of Congress as to territorial and State 
(1866), 279; ante-bellum negro, 316; H. on 
justice and inevitableness of negro (1S66), 
316-318; and education of negroes, 318, 2, 
288-292, 293 n., 349, 350; negro, defeated 
in Ohio (1867), 1, 328, 330; Ohio's " visible 
admixture" law, 331, 335, 339, 346; for 
students and veterans in soldiers' homes 
in Ohio, 335, 339, 346; H. and manhood, 
346; advocacy of woman, by Republican 
reformers (1876), 430; H. on protection 
of negro (1878), 2, 174-176; H. and sup- 
pression of negro (1878-80), 266, 268, 
274-276, 293 n.; Lincoln's principles, 273; 
H. and woman, 381; H. on negro, as per- 
manent (1889), 389 n. See also Federal 
election laws. Fifteenth Amendment, Vot- 
ing. 

Summons, James, H.'s defense, 1, 91, 92. 

Sumter, Fort, effect of fall in Cincinnati, 1* 
119; H. on Anderson's failure, 120. 



INDEX 



485 



Supreme Court, greatness of Marshall, 1, 

32; Jefferson on, 43; Wirt and Webster as 

pleaders, 45. 
Sutton, W. Va., Federal troops at (1861), 1, 

134. 
Swann, Thomas, and Maryland memorial 

(1878), 2, 148. 
Swayne, Wager, at H.'s funeral, 8, 400. 
Swift, J. F., special Chinese mission, 2, 217. 

Taft, Alphonso, lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 57; 
candidacy for nomination for Governor 
(1875), from H. on this, 1,384-387; on key- 
note of Ohio campaign (1875), 398; on 
H.'s presidential candidacy, 433; on in- 
timidation of negro voters in South (1876), 
488 n.; from H. (1877) on Electoral Com- 
mission, 528; opposes the Commission, 
629 n.; on threats against Grant (1876), 
2, 1; H.'s friendship, 421. 

Taft, C. P., and nomination of H. for Gov- 
ernor (1875), 1, 385. 

Taft,. W. H., and H., 2, 422; Taft Oak in 
Spiegel Grove, 446. 

Talcott, Mary [Mrs. John Russell], 1, 7. 

"Tanner, James, H. on dismissal, 2, 374. 

Tariff, H. on need of revision downward 
(1872), 1, 371; not a party question, 372; 
Republican platform on (1876), 445; 
Democratic platform on, 467 n.; H. on, 
on coffee and tea, 2, 135 ; H. on issue (1888) , 
370 n.; (1890), 375, (1892), 376. 

Taxation, H. on principles of State, 1, 329; 
on increase of local, in Ohio, 336, 338 n., 
339, 342, 408, 409, 412; reduction of Fed- 
eral, under Grant, 370; local, as issue in 
Ohio (1875), 387. See also Tariff. 

Tayleure, C. W., captured by Federals, to 
H. (1885) on experience, 1» 166. 

Taylor, Bayard, H. on appointment to for- 
eign mission, 2, 89 n. 

Taylor, I. H., from H. (1886) on Federal 
aid for education, 2, 349 n. 

Taylor, Richard, Peabody Education Fund, 
2, 351. 

Taylor, Zachary, campaign of 1848, 1, 100. 

Temperance, H. on his attitude (1852), 1, 
60; his opposition to political and legisla- 
tive action, 100, 2, 379-381; H. becomes 
total abstainer, 305; regime in White 
House under H., 312-315. 

Tenth Ohio, in West Virginia campaign 
(1861), 1, 136-138. 

Tenure-of-OfEce Act, H. on repeal, 2, 106. 

Term of President. See Presidency. 

Territories, Congress and suffrage in (1866), 
1, 279. 

Texas, social life (1849), 1, 50, 51; horseback 
trip across, 51-54; H. on reconstruction, 
337; on coin basis (1875), 396. 

Texas-Pacific Railway, and disputed elec- 
tion, 1, 520. 

Thayer, , at dinner with H., 2, 327 n. 

Theatre, H. on his first, 1, 36. 

Third term, opposition, 1, 383, 387. 

Thirteenth Ohio, in West Virginia (1861), 
1, 138. 

Thirteenth Virginia (Federal), in West Vir- 
ginia (1863), 1, 208; and Morgan's raid, 
210, 211. 

Thirty-fourth Ohio, in West Virginia (1862). 
1, 176; (1863), 208; (1864), 217. 

Thirty-sixth Ohio, in West Virginia (1864), 
1, 217; at Opequon, 244; H. and, 271. 

Thirty-sixth Virginia, in West Virginia 
(1862), 1, 184. 



Thoburn, Joseph, Opequon, 1, 242; Cedar 
Creek, killed, 2.54, 255, 258, 260 n. 

Thomas, Lieut.-Gov. , and H.'s visit to 

Montpelier, 2, 264. 

Thomas, G. H., Mills Springs, 1, 162; on 
conditions in South (1866), 309. 

Thompson, Ambrose, grant in Central Am- 
erica, 2, 219 n. 

Thompson, R.W., speech nominating Mor- 
ton (1876), 1, 446; appointment to H.'s 
Cabinet, 2, 23; confirmed, 28; character 
as member of Cabinet, 31; and Bland 
Silver Bill, 123; opinion of Anderson's 
testimony, 159 n.; and veto of Army 
Appropriation Bill, 186 n.; H. and accept- 
ance of Panama Canal office, forced resig- 
nation, 223; humor, 303 n. 

Thompson, William, career, 1, 78 n. 

Thorne, E. E., visit to H. (1876), on elec- 
tion in New York, 1, 506. 

Thornton, Sir Edward, anecdote of Mrs. 
Hayes, 2, 309 n.; at dinner with H., 327 re. 

Thunderstorms, phenomena, 1, 178, 186. 

Thurman, A. G., nominated for Governor 
(1867), 1, 291; campaign, 293, 320; on 
coercion (1861), 298; challenges inspec- 
tion of record, 323; on supporting Mexican 
War, 324; as Peace Democrat, 325-327; 
H. as his opponent, 328; defeated, 328; 
elected to Senate, 328 n.; and Fifteenth 
Amendment, 359; reelected to Senate, 381; 
and inflation issue in Ohio (1875), 391, 
395; of joint committee on disputed elec- 
tion, 524 n.; of Electoral Commission, 
530 n.; and Democratic programme on 
Federal election laws (1879), 2, 179, 203 ^i.; 
H. on candidacy for Vice-President (1888), 
370. 

Tilden, S. J., and Tweed, 1, 418; nomina- 
tion certain (1876), 418, 437 n. ; nomina- 
tion, 466; letter of acceptance, 467; activity 
in campaign, 469 n.; mcome-tax dodging, 
474; and Allen's candidacy (1875), 481; 
conduct during disputed election, 499 n., 
519; and filibuster over electoral count, 
532 n.; and Electoral Commission, 539: 
dropped in 1880, 539, 2, 168; and fraud 
issue, 142; and Cipher Dispatches, 164, 
165 n., 166; and New York election (1879). 
206 n. 

Tindal, N. C, Story on, 1, 35. 

Tod, David, H. on election (1861), 1, 140, 
145; War Democrat, 301. 

Toledo,H.'sspeech(1868),i, 351; H.'s invest- 
ments, 377; H.'s visit (1878), 2, 263. 

Tompkins, C.Q., H. on war attitude and ac- 
tion, 1, 143, 148, 149, 161. 

Toohy, D. J., and H., 1, 108. 

Torbert, A. T. A., cavalry command in the 
Valley (1864), 2, 232; Opequon, 240, 242; 
defeat of Rosser, 253; Cedar Creek, 254. 

Townsend, G. A., interview with H. on fraud- 
issue investigation, 2, 155 n. 

Transcendentalism, H. on Emerson and. It 
62, 63, 65, 66. 

Travel, in 1834 from Ohio to Vermont, 1, 16; 
life on Mississippi steamer (1848), 49. 

Trent affair, H. on, 1, 156. 

Trescot, W. H., special Chinese mission, 2, 
217. 

Trotter, Alexander, on financial faith of 
United States, 2, 280. 

Trowbridge, J. T., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 317 n. 

Trowbridge, R. E., H. on., 1, 25; in Congress, 
25 n. ; and sectional societies at colli^ge, 27. 

Trowbridge, Sarah [Mrs. John Rusaell], 1, 5, 



486 



INDEX 



Trowbridge. T. R.. H. visits (1880). 2, 
286. 

Troy, W. J., from H. (1876) on use of money 
in campaign, 1, 479 n. 

TTuehve (1035), 1, 13. 

Trusts. See Monopolies. 

Tucson. H.'s visit (1S80). 2, 293. 

Turner, B. A., on H.'s staff, 1, 240 n. 

Turner, H. M., seconds Blaine's nomination 
(1876), 1, 446. 

Tweed, W. M., and Tilden. 1, 418. 

Twelfth Ohio, in West Virginia (1863). 1, 208. 

Twenty-eighth Ohio (Second German), in 
West Virginia (1861), 1, 131, 134, 137; in 
Antietam campaign. 167; in the Valley 
(1864), 223. 

Twenty-fourth Ohio, in West Virgmia(1861). 
1, 145; goes to Kentucky, 158, 161. 

Twenty-second Joint Rule, and disputed 
election, 1, 510, 517 n. 

Twenty-second Virginia, in West Virgima 
(1862). 1, 184. 

Twenty-third Illinois, at Kernstown (1864). 
1, 230. 

Twenty-third Ohio, first three-year regiment, 
1, 122 n.; organization, 124-126; camp 
life, 126-128; old-muskets incident, H.'s 
tact, 126 n.\ H. on Col. Scammon, 127; 
advance in West Virginia (1861), 128-135; 
H. on character, 129, 140-142, 152, 165, 
168, 188. 189; Carnifex Ferry, 136-138; 
later movements and camp (1861), 139- 
143; H. lieutenant-colonel, 147, 150; pur- 
suit of Floyd (1861). 153; winter quarters, 
154, 157, 160; desire for other service, 159; 
services in West Virginia, 159. 160; prepa- 
ration for spring campaign (1862). 164; H. 
commands, 165; Pearisburg raid and re- 
treat, 169-177; at Flat Top Mountain and 
Green Meadows, 181-184 ;H. and change to 
another regiment, 184, 192, 202; raid on 
salt works, 187; march to Washington, 
188, 189; march to Frederick, Reno inci- 
dent, 193-197; South Mountain. 198-200; 
Antietam, 201; H. colonel, 202; Lincoln 
and regimental colors, 203; pursuit of 
Stuart, 204; return to West Virginia, 204; 
pranks on S9th Ohio, 205; and Mrs. Hayes, 
207; at Charleston, W. Va. (1863), 208; 
and Jenkins' raid, 209; and Morgan's raid, 
210-212; and reenlistment, 213, 214; march 
to Lewisburg, 214; in raid on East Ten- 
nessee and Virginia Railroad (1864), 217- 
222; in Hunter's retreat from the Valley. 
220 n.; at Kernstown, 230; execution of 
bounty jumper, 231, 476 n.; at Berry ville, 
236; at Opequon, 243 n., 245; and destruc- 
tion in the Valley, 252; service in Valley 
campaign, 266; reunion (1877). 2, 246; 
(1878), 263; (1879) H.'s speech, 269-276; 
(1880), 288; silver wedding gift to Mrs. 
Hayes, 319; at funeral of Mrs. Hayes. 391; 
at "funeral of H.. 400. 

Tyler, John, H. on bank veto, 1, 98. 

Tyner, J.N., H. on bureau appointment. 2, 
89 n. 

Union. H. on character, 1, 293, 294; on na- 
tionality as outcome of Civil War, 2, 270- 
274, 292 n.. 293-295. 341; nationalism as 
essence of Constitution, 296. See also 
State sovereignty. 

Union men, H. on necessity of protecting 
Southern (1866), 1, 286. 

Union party, formation, 1, 301. 

Unit rule, overthrown in Republican conven- 
tions. 1, 449. 2, 237, 240 n. 



Unwritten law. H. on, 1, 90. 
Utah. See Mormons. 

Vallandigham. C. L.. H. on defeat (1863), 
1, 214; in State campaign (1867), 291; on 
coercion (1860). 298; keynote of campaigns 
(1863-t>4), war a failure, 304-300, 325, 
326; on patriotism (1848), 324; and "new 
departure" (1871), 356. 

Van Alen. J. H., visiting statesman to Louis- 
iana, report to H., 1, 507. 

Van Buren, John, War Democrat, 1, 209. 

Van Buren, Martin, H. on campaign of 1840, 

1, 97, 98. 

Vance, W. J., on Chandler as campaign man- 
ager (1876), 1, 471 n. 

Vanderhoff, George, verses on H., 2, 155 n. 

Van Dorn, Earl, Pea Ridge, 1, 165. 

Van Slyke, L. G.. fugitive-slave case, 1, 94. 

Van Vorhes, N. H.. commands brigade. I, 
207. 

VanZandt, C.C, in H.'s Southern trip (1877), 

2, 248 n. 

Vermont, British intrigue during Revolution, 
1, 9. 

Veto, Cabinet on principle, 2, 123; of Bland 
Silver Bill, 124-127; of Resumption Bill. 
138-140; H. on attempt to destroy power 
through riders to appropriation bills, 180, 
183. 184. 190-194; his vetoes of such bills, 
186-204, 205 n. 

Vice-presidency, H. as possible candidate 
(1870), 1, 442. 

Virginia, conditions (1866). 1, 309; H. on re- 
construction. 336, 337. 

Virginia Central Railroad, destruction (1864), 

1, 222. 

Virginia City. Nevada. H.'s visit (1880). 2, 
293. 

Virginia regiments. Confederate. See 22d, 
36th, 45th, 51st. 

Virginia regiments. Federal. See 2d. 5th, 
7th, 13th. 

Visible admixture law in Ohio, 1, 331, 335, 
3.39, 346. 

Visiting statesmen, H. and (1876), 1, 495 n., 
496 n., 498 n.; reports to H.,. 502, 503, 504n., 
507; Federal offices for, 2, 108; charge 
of bargain with Louisiana and Florida Re- 
turning Boards, 145, 157-160; revelations 
of Cipher Dispatches, 102-167. 

Voting, H. on frauds and remedy, 1, 3.S2; H. 
and registry law in Ohio, 412; attempted 
repeal of use of troops at polls, 2, 170, 183, 

186. 187; H.'s attitude on this, 184, 185; 
veto of such a bill, 185-194; military in- 
terference prevented by other laws, 185, 

187, 194; bill as destroying power of Fed- 
eral civil authorities, 184, 188, 189, 194; 
veto of bill to forbid troops at place of 
election, 195-197; act to forbid use of 
troops as police power at polls, 200, 201 «. 
See also Federal election laws. Suffrage. 

Wade, B. F., in New Orleans (1866) , 1, 289; 
and nomination for Governor (1875), 384; 
on H. as presidential candidate (1875), 
405; and his candidacy 443 n.; seconds his 
nomination, 448; on H.'s Southern policy, 

2, 65. 

Waite, A. T., from H. (1883) on retirement, 
2, 361 »!. 

Waite, M. R., and Electoral Commission, 1, 
529 «.; at Grant's state dinner to 11., 2, 5; 
administers oath in private, 5; at reunion 
of 23d Ohio (1877), 247; social relations 
with H.. 305; Peabody Education Fund, 



J 



INDEX 



487 



351; Slater Fund, 352; on Henry George's 
theories, 3S3. 

Walker, F. A., International Silver Confer- 
ence, 2, 127 n. 

Walker, George, on demand for free silver, 
2, 127 71. 

Walker, James, H. on sermon on measure of 
liie,l, 38; on cruelty for sport, 40; on stand- 
ard of action, 40. 

Walker, Timothy, lawyer in Cincinnati, 1, 58; 
Rosetta fugitive-slave case, 94. 

Wallace, Lew, Monocacy, 1, 227; H. on ap- 
pointment, 2, 108; charges ag.T.inst, as visit- 
ing statesman to Florida, 159, 160. 

Wanamaker, John, at H.'s funeral, 2, 399. 

Ward, Durbin, on Fifteenth Amendment, 1, 
359. 

Warden, R. B., at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Warden, W. W., at H.'s reunion of Literary 
Club, 2, 323. 

Ware, James, Revolutionary soldier, 1, 78 n. 

Warner, C. D., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 317 n. 

Warren, G. K., H. disparages, 1. 270. 

Warren, S. B., in West Virginia (1862), 1, 
180; in retreat from the Valley (1864), 
226 n. 

Washburne, E. B., votes for, for presiden- 
tial nomination (1876), 1, 450 n.; candi- 
dacv (1S80),2, 237. 

Washington, George, and British intrigue in 
Vermont, 1, 9; and First Bank Act, 42; on 
the Union, 294; H. on character, 2, 358 n., 
359 n., 387 n.; centennial of inauguration, 
386. 

Washington, D. C, army arrangements at 
(1862), 1, 189; Early's campaign against, 
227; social extravagance during Grant's 
administrations, 2, 299 n.; H. on Grand 
Army Encampment (1892), 393 n. See 
also White House. . 

Washington Monument, H.'s mterest, 2, 
225 n.\ incident of renewed construction, 
443. 

Washington Star, on meetings of H.'s Cabi- 
net, 2, 303 n.; on H.'s first reception, 311 n. 

Watterson, Henrj-, on disputed election, 1, 
535 n.\ on Davis and Electoral Commis- 
sion, 537 n. . , . , 1 

Watts, J. W., dispute as presidential elector 
(1876), 1, 508. . 

Wealth, H. on dangers of excessive fortunes, 
2,381-385. 

Weasner, T. H., on H.'s congressional nomi- 
nation (1864), 1, 235 n. 

Webb, Isaac, Revolutionary soldier, 1, 77, 
78 n. 

Webb, Isaac, academy, on H., \, 17, 18. 

Webb, J. D., army surgeon, 1, 121. 

Webb, J. T., war spirit, 1, 121; surgeon of 
23d Ohio, 127; in West Virginia opera- 
tions (1861), 134, 140, 154; illness, 143; 
discontent, 160; on adventures of Union 
man, 166 n.; armv incident, 168; in West 
Virginia operations (1862), 171; in Antie- 
tam campaign,196, 200; on H.'s staff, 240 n. 

Webb, James, career, 1, 77, 1, 442, 445. 

Webb, Lucv W. See Hayes, Lucy W.(Webb). 

Webb, Maria (Cook), 1, 77; frees slaves, 78; 
at daughter's wedding, 81; home with 
daughter, 82, 83; and the war, 121; at 
Camp Chase, 128; at H.'s camp (1863), 
209. „ , 

Weber, Max, expects to displace H. after 
Cedar Creek. 1, 262. 

Webster, Daniel, H. on, as political speaker, 
t, 35, 40; as pleader, 45; H. on defeat for 



nomination (1S52), 102; civil -service re- 
form order (1841), 2, 79 n.; on Feder:'.] aid 
for education, 292; anecdote of reply to 
Hayne, 327 n. 

Webster, G. P., War Democrat, 1, 301. 

Weed, S. M., Cipher Dispatches, 2, 163, 165. 

Weir, L. C, and H.'s journey to Wasliington 
(1877), 2, 3; at H.'s silver wedding, 2, 318. 

Welles, Gideon, H. on supposed resignation 
(1862), I, 161. 

Wells, J. M., Sherman's good opinion, 1, 503, 
507; H. on Federal appointment, 2, 109 n. 

Wells, Samuel, British intrigue in Vermont, 
1,9. 

Welsh, John, H. on appointment to foreign 
mission, 2, 89 n. 

West, W. A., in West Virginia (1862), 1, 177. 

West Virginia, attitude of inhabitants (1861), 

1, 129, 131; guerrillas, 130, 131, 162-166. 
170; Rosecrans' advance (1861), Carni- 
fex Ferry, 130-143; H. on scenery, 144, 
162; skirmishing and pursuit of Floyd, 150- 
156; Federal winter quarters, 1.54-161; 
Federal control, 156; Federal raid toPearia- 
burg and retreat (1862), 169-177; Cox's 
camp around Flat Top Mountain, 176- 
187; return of Cox's division after Antie- 
tam, 204; Federal line (1S63), 207, 208. 
213; Jenkins' raid, 209; Federal move- 
ment against Raleigh, 209; Federal raid 
on East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad 
(1864), 217-222. 

West Virginia regiments. See Virginia regi- 
ments, Federal. 
Western Reserve University, H. as trustee, 

2, 355. 

Weston, W. Va., Federal troops at (1861), 
1, 130. 

Wethersfield, Conn., Russell family, 1, 6, 7; 
Smith family, 8. 

Wetmore, Samuel, Peabody Education 
Fund, 2, 351. 

Wheeling, R. T., at Austin, 1, 52. 

Wheeler, W. A., \'ice-presidential nomina- 
tion foretold, 1, 426; votes for, for presi- 
dential nomination, 449, 450 n. ; nominated 
for Vice-President, 452; Wheeler Compro- 
mise, 452 n.; to H. (1876) on Tilden's 
strength, 469 n.; at Grant's state dinner 
to H., 2, 5; consulted on H.'s Cabinet, 17, 
22; and commission to visit Louisiana 
(1877), 45, 49; social relations with H., 
306, 310 n.; H. on, 306 n. 

Wheeler Compromise, 1, 452 n. 

Whig party, H. on division (1852), 1, 102. 
See also Elections. 

Whipple, H. B., Peabody Education Fund, 2, 
351; on Henry George's theories, 383. 

White A. D., and H.'s presidential candi- 
dacy, 1, 442. ^ . 

White, Harry, visiting statesman to Loma- 
iana, report to H., 1, 507. 

White, Horace, and conference of Republi- 
can reformers (1876), 1, 430. 

White House, domestic life during H. s ad- 
ministration, 2, 299-302; H.'s routine. 
302-305; Mrs. Hayes's informal evening 
gatherings, 306-308; religious connection, 
309; Sundav evening gatherings, 310; holi- 
dav observances, 311; formal receptions 
and dinners, 311 ; temperance r6gime, 312- 
315; painting of Mrs. Hayes, 315; Hayes 
Sideboard, 317; silver wedding, 318-321; 
Hastings-Platt wedding, 321-323; reunion 
of Cincinnati Literary Club, 323; H. s last 
season, 326. ,„ « » 

Whiting, Abigail [Mrs. Samuel Russell], 1, 7. 



488 



INDEX 



Whiting, Mrs. Rebecca [Mfb. John Russell], 

1,7. 
Whitlow, , bounty-jumper, executed, 1, 

231, 476 71. 
Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 

317 n. 
Whittier, J. G., on Mrs. Hayes, 2, 316 n. 
Wikoff, A. T., and strike of Ohio coal miners 

(1876),!, 4.39. 
Wilber, Mary C, on Mrs. Hayes, 1, 74 n. 
Wiliard, George, of joint committee on dis- 
puted election, 1, 524 n. 
Williams, J. S., West Virginia operations 

(lS(i2), 1, 174. 
Williamson, , of Texas (1848), nickname, 

anectlotes, 1, 53. 
Willis, John, and H.'s visit to Montpelier, 2, 

2G4. 
Willis, N. P., H. on writings, 1, 69. 
Willounhby, Ohio, reunion of 23d Regiment, 

2, 263. 
Wilson, J. H., Opequon, 1, 239. 
Winchester, Va., as war town, 1, 233 n.; H.'s 

visit (1878), 2, 205. See also Opequon. 
Windom, William, opposes retirement of 

greenbacks, 2, 129 n.; presidential candi- 
dacy (1880), 237. 
Windsor, Conn., Hayes family, 1, 3, 4. 
Wines, E. C., and H., 2, 346. 
Wines, F. H., tribute to H., 2, 406, 407; on 

H. and growing public appreciation, 432. 
Winthrop, K. C., H. on, as political speaker, 

1, 35; Peabody Education Fund, 2, 351; 

on Henry George's theories, 383. 
Wirt, William, as pleader, 1, 45. 
Wise, H. A., West Virginia operations (1861), 

1, 135, 136; and Col. Tompkins, 148. 
Woman sufTrage, advocacy bv Republican 

reformers (1876), 1, 430; H.'s attitude, 2, 

381 
Wood, O. J., on H.'s staff, 1, 240 n. 
Woodford, S. L., in Ohio sound-money cam- 
paign (1875), 1, 405; vice-presidential 



candidacy (1S75), 424; nominates Conk* 
hng (1876), 446. 

Woodstock, Conn., H.'s speech (1883), 2t 
34'J, 350. 

Woodward, J. J., social relations with H., 2, 
310 n. 

Woodward, W. J., in West Virginia (1861), 
1, 137. 

WooUey, C. S., Cipher Dispatches, 2, 162. 

Woolsey, T. D., and conference of Republi- 
can reformers (1876), 1, 430; on "Tilden 
during campaign, 469 n.; and commission 
to Louisiana (1877), 2, 45; and H.'s Cabi- 
net, 287. 

Worcester, Mass., H.'s speech (1877), Z, 
244. 

World Columbian Exposition, H. at prelimi- 
nary dedication, 2, 394. 

Worth, W. J., H. on (1848), 1, 49. 

Wright, H.G., command in the Valley (1864), 

1, 228, 230; under Sheridan, 231. 6'ee alio 
Sixth Corps. 

Wyoming Valley, Pa., H.'s visit and speech 

(1878), 2, 255. 
Wytheville, Va., Federal raid (1863), 1, 211; 

(1864), 220. 

Yale University, beginning, the "gift of 
books," 1, 7 7).; H. at (1880), 2, 286-288. 

Yellow fever, H. and epidemic (1878), 2, 
228. 

Young, Casey, and fraud issue (1878), 2, 
152 71. 

Young, J. R., and Grant's candidacy (1879), 

2, 236 n. 

Youngstown, Ohio, H.'s speech (1868), 1« 
350; (1879), 2, 269-276. 

Zimmerman, W. H., company in 23d Ohio, 
1, 125; in West \'irginia campaign (1861), 
137, 142; raid on salt works (1862), 187; 
return to West Virginia (1862), 206. 

Zollicoffer, F. K., Mills Springs, 1, 162. 



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